A new nitrogen ruling by the Council of State will have far-reaching consequences for the granting of permits to companies, Agriculture Minister Femke Wiersma (BBB) warned in the House of Representatives on Thursday. The minister still has to study the ruling further, but she spoke of broad consequences for agriculture, housing, industry and infrastructure.
The Council of State determined on Wednesday that the rules will become stricter for ‘settlement’ of nitrogen emissions within companies. Previously, companies that were expanding were allowed to eliminate their new, additional emissions if they fell within the permit for their old activities. Now this is no longer allowed and companies may still have to have a permit and are actually in violation with their emissions.
The new ruling by the Council of State has consequences for all current and future permit procedures, but also for all companies that have settled their new emissions in this way over the past five years, without a permit. There will therefore be a transitional arrangement for these cases until January 1, 2030; Until then, provinces cannot enforce against companies that appear to be in violation.
It is reminiscent of the still unresolved issue surrounding the ‘PAS detectors’, says nitrogen expert Anna Collignon of the law firm Stibbe. This is a group of originally 3,600 affected entrepreneurs who later turned out to need a permit when the Council of State rejected the government’s Nitrogen Approach Program (PAS) in 2019.
The idea is that livestock farmers voluntarily give up part of their phosphate rights, which helps to reduce the manure surplus
It is not clear how many companies are affected by this new ruling by the Council of State, says Collignon. “The companies in question now have five years to arrange a permit and those assessment procedures via provinces are already piling up and have been taking a long time. It is certain that this ruling will also have consequences for the workload at provinces.”
With the new ruling, which arises from cases involving the companies Rendac and the Amercentrale, the Council of State is amending an earlier ruling of its own. The reason for this change is recent decisions of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which provide more clarity about the so-called ‘preliminary test’ for possible damage to nature in a permit application.
Partial purchase scheme
There is also a broad majority in the House of Representatives in favor of introducing a new purchase scheme in which farmers do not stop, but are compensated for partial reductions in their livestock, it became apparent on Thursday. This parliamentary motion was submitted by the ruling party VVD and co-signed by coalition partners BBB and NSC.
The plan for a “partial termination scheme” comes from the agricultural sector itself, said VVD member Thom van Campen when submitting the proposal. Agriculture Minister Femke Wiersma (BBB) said she is “sympathetic” to the plan and wants to embrace this “sector initiative”.
The idea is that livestock farmers voluntarily give up part of their phosphate rights, which helps to reduce the manure surplus. Farmers should receive compensation for this, with the Chamber insisting on a “substantial private contribution” from the agricultural sector: the “dairy industry, animal feed industry, banks”.
Minister Wiersma said that she could not anticipate the government budget for this scheme and that the European Commission would also have to agree first. The plan should be elaborated with a new, voluntary (entire) purchase scheme that Wiersma himself wants to come up with.
With the partial buyout scheme, farmers who want to participate could, for example, reduce 10 to 20 percent of their livestock, says Erwin Wunnekink of LTO. This would help to create nitrogen space for legalizing, for example, the affected PAS detectors, he says.
Acceleration plan
With the support of a parliamentary majority, D66 has further submitted a motion to embrace a nitrogen plan from employers, builders and nature organizations. This ‘acceleration plan’ by VNO-NCW, Bouwend Nederland, Natuurmonumenten and Natuur & Milieu also includes the idea for a scheme to shrink livestock farms.
This would involve one temporaryvoluntary reduction of the dairy herd. Livestock farmers could receive a premium or bonus per animal, with phosphate rights being scrapped. Individual farmers could buy back phosphate rights later, but the total amount of phosphate rights and animals would have to decrease.
Farmers’ organization LTO was also involved in the preparations, but recently distanced itself because the plan would hit the sector disproportionately hard.
Minister Wiersma has promised the House that she will see which parts of the plan she can adopt and which she cannot.
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New nitrogen plan from employers and nature organizations, but without the LTO farmers