What is the Care Table for?
The Relief Table was set up by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and NAM. The discussions at this table should lead to joint agreements with residents and stakeholders about injecting the waste water into the empty gas field at a depth of 3 kilometers below Schoonebeek and making additional agreements to remove concerns from the surrounding area and meet wishes from the region. to fill. For example, ‘what do we do if something goes wrong with oil extraction, water injection or the soil.’ The agreements can also be supplemented in the future because the Relaxation table will continue to exist.
One of the points in the draft agreements stated for some time that ‘research has shown that the current method of processing – water injection – is preferable to other alternatives’. With that, the NAM, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and regional administrators have long since made their choice and, according to skeptics, the Ontzorgtafel is only intended as ‘window dressing’ and ‘checking that people have been talked to’. Journalists and media are also not welcome to follow the process.
The Relief Table is not about whether or not to restart oil extraction. The table is also not about the choice that NAM makes about what to do with the wastewater.