Follow the interrogations below via the tweets from reporter Mike Muller.
De Muinck told how in 1959, as a 10-year-old boy, he witnessed the first gas drilling and how he already saw the negative consequences for residents of the extraction area in the early years of gas extraction. Even then, experts warned about the risks of subsidence, but those noises were “swept under the table.”
“The gas discovery was seen as an ATM,” said De Muinck. “The oil farmers and the State spent enough money there, but the people of Groningen themselves didn’t really notice.” While they did get the burdens “on their plate”, without having asked for it. But “if you called the NAM about that, it was not given home.”
De Muinck is convinced that even now ‘responsible gas extraction’ would still have been possible, if the government and NAM had listened and proceeded to compensate the damage at an early stage. By failing to do so, they have aroused so much resistance that, according to him, they have “dug their own grave.”
According to De Muinck, anyone who took on NAM to get compensation for his damage encountered an army of ‘south lawyers’ from Shell, one of the shareholders of the gas company that operates the Groningen field.
“It is almost impossible to litigate against Shell,” De Muinck expressed the powerlessness of many victims. “Those people have so much money at their disposal to have the best lawyers show up. As an individual Dutch person, you cannot litigate against that.” For years, the victims did not have to expect anything from the government either. According to De Muinck, he was imprisoned in a “marriage of convenience” with the NAM.
De Muinck does not let go of the way in which he and other victims have been treated. “Of course you take it with you as luggage. It does something to your sense of justice.” Many people’s health also suffered. “Fortunately, no people have yet died as a result of falling debris, but people have died prematurely due to stress.”
The parliamentary inquiry is intended to map out what gas extraction has meant for the Netherlands, but also what disruptive consequences the resulting earthquakes have had in Groningen. The first witnesses will be heard under oath this week. The hearings will continue after the summer break of the House of Representatives.