A one-time squeeze-out offer that is too attractive to refuse – otherwise coercion may follow. For example, the cabinet hopes to entice two to three thousand companies that emit a lot of nitrogen to stop before the end of 2023. These companies will be offered generous compensation, possibly up to 120 percent of their business value.
With these plans to get out of the nitrogen crisis, the cabinet wants to come after the Council of Ministers on Friday, according to sources NRC. This is necessary to restore nature and to be able to grant permits for construction, farmers, industry and traffic.
It is striking that the cabinet wants to stop a much larger group of ‘peak taxers’ than mediator Johan Remkes, who published his report at the beginning of October. Remkes advised buying out 500 to 600 polluters close to nature areas within one year, both farmers and industry. The cabinet later called Remkes’ proposal “ambitious” and wondered whether it was feasible in a short time.
The cabinet has not chosen to compile such a top 500 or top 600 of peak loads. This is hypersensitive in politics and the agricultural sector, since there has been a fuss about alleged ‘address lists’ of peak taxers and RIVM has made mistakes in the inventory of polluters.
Biggest polluters
Instead, the government wants to draw up criteria for a broader group of farmers and companies that qualify for the favorable squeeze-out scheme. The cabinet is casting a net, as it were, and hopes to fish out the biggest polluters, but there is no guarantee.
In recent decades, farmers’ buy-out policy has yielded little anyway and so far it has not succeeded. In order to tempt peak taxers to voluntarily cooperate in stopping, the government must push the limits of European state aid rules.
Before the end of the year, the cabinet will determine which entrepreneurs belong to this larger group of peak loaders. They can discuss with the provinces whether they want to use the subsidy to reduce nitrogen emissions to almost zero, relocate their company or stop altogether. The scheme must be opened by April next year at the latest.
The balance of the scheme will be drawn up at the end of 2023. If it turns out that there will not be enough nitrogen savings, the cabinet can proceed with enforcement from 2024.
The coercive measures may consist of stricter environmental requirements for nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas. Nitrogen emissions can also be priced much more heavily than is currently the case. The cabinet wants to prevent expropriation or the deprivation of permits as long as possible. This can lead to lengthy legal proceedings and the flare-up of farmers’ protests.
Superplus regulation
The ‘super plus scheme’ that has now been announced has a strong feeling of déjà vu. In March of this year, Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen, VVD) announced a “wildly attractive” buy-out scheme. As it turns out, that scheme is in danger of being canceled because it may be a form of unauthorized state aid.
The super plus scheme would pass the state aid test, because the scheme explicitly states that participating farmers cannot start a business elsewhere. This prevents them from taking their generous remuneration abroad and starting a new business there.
According to the cabinet, the nitrogen space that is released when buying out peak loaders is currently mainly used to improve nature and to legalize farmers who have been working without a nitrogen permit since 2019 due to the actions of the government and are now legally trapped.
There is extra pressure on the cabinet to come up with a short-term solution since the Council of State canceled the ‘building exemption’ at the beginning of this month. Since then, construction companies have had to make nitrogen calculations per project to see whether a project is not harmful to nearby vulnerable nature reserves.
Housing construction
The government is, however, looking into whether the nitrogen capacity of farmers and industrial companies that voluntarily stop can still be used for housing. The government is also investigating whether exceptions can be made for special projects, such as the construction of wind farms, solar parks and other sources of sustainable energy. An exception for the Dutch armed forces is also being considered, so that the Ministry of Defense can continue to conduct military exercises.
The government is also thinking of something remarkable that still needs to be worked out: a mathematical lower limit. If a construction project is below that emission limit, no permit would be required. It is precisely this kind of generic ‘goat paths’ that was punished by the Council of State at the beginning of this month with the scrapping of the building exemption. Whether this proposal is legally tenable will have to be seen next year.