A former judge who felt pressured by the NAM and a former deputy who fears that the gas tap in Groningen will open again.
In a nutshell, that is the tenor of the seventeenth day of the public hearings of the parliamentary inquiry into gas extraction in Groningen. Former judge and arbitrator Soil Movement Pieter Schulting caused the most sensation. He said that the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) was not waiting for the decisions of the independent arbitrators in disputes between citizens and the company.
“The NAM has mainly been busy maintaining control over the entire process in whatever phase,” said Schulting, who was involved with the Soil Movement arbitrator from the start in 2016 until the end of 2020. Very soon after the start, the gas extraction company tried to get rid of the arbitrator.
NAM . ‘Warning’
Schulting says he “definitely remembers a time when the NAM asked to return to a case.” It was more or less threatened that the arbitrator had to make sure that the gas extraction company does not have to carry out the ruling. This “warning” from NAM was conveyed by lawyers at the company, says Schulting, who indicates that it “is not appropriate to try to convince the arbitrator in this way that he should do things differently”. The arbitrator bottom motion consisted of all former judges.
Schulting says he received “no more than ten letters” from NAM. “Entire epistles full of arguments. As a former judge I say: that is not possible. You can’t have a one-two punch with a judge in a lawsuit. And that without the other party.”
administrative judge
The former judge finds it “incomprehensible” that the damage proceedings ended up with the administrative court after the arbitrator had stopped. According to him, the logical route was not chosen: the civil court.
,,What’s behind that,” Schulting wonders aloud. He hopes the committee can find an answer to that. He himself thinks that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK) directed this “for fear of losing control of the entire process.”
The day started with former deputy William Moorlag of the province of Groningen (PvdA). He strongly argued against Minister Henk Kamp. It was a big mistake by the then minister not to involve the region in the fourteen investigations he launched in January 2013, says Moorlag. The “steadfast minister” proved difficult to dissuade from his views, according to Moorlag, and was mainly concerned with “buying time” and “having investigations carried out”.
During his interrogation, Moorlag made a lot of visual statements. He said about former minister Kamp that “it is even easier with your bare hands to pull a pile of 18 meters from the ground than to turn Henk Kamp off his course.”
Moorlag says he fears the future. That “hungry looks” go to the gas of Groningen again.
A week and a half break because of Prinsjesdag
Due to Prinsjesdag, there will be no interrogations for the next week and a half. On Monday, September 26, the survey committee will continue their work. Who should come will be announced on Friday 23 September.