Province advises ministry: 7 of 9 gas extraction locations in Unesco area are not suitable

The Canadian company Vermilion Energy wants to extract more gas in the municipalities of Westerveld and Weststellingwerf. But research shows that the locations that the company has chosen are actually all unsuitable for this. The new gas extraction may even jeopardize the Unesco World Heritage status of the Colonies of Benevolence in Frederiksoord and Wilhelminaoord. Even the status of the Colonies in Veenhuizen and the Belgian Root could be endangered.

The locations that Vermilion has in mind include Wilhelminaoord, Vledder and Vledderveen. They are therefore located in the World Heritage area, or in a designated conservation area. The world heritage is at risk for six drilling locations, and for one of those locations it even has an ‘unacceptably large effect’ on the world heritage status. It is therefore expected that gas extraction cannot be justified for UNESCO.

These are the following nine locations. The red location has a ‘major effect’ on the World Heritage, the orange locations a ‘moderate effect’ and the green locations have no risks.

In a letter to Hans Vijlbrief, State Secretary for Mining, the province wrote that gas extraction in this area should not damage the world heritage in the Colonies of Benevolence. “We would like to emphasize that not only the buildings, but also the landscape design are part of the World Heritage.”

That is why the province considers that six locations (locations 1 to 4, 6 and 9, see map above) are not suitable for extracting gas. “Because the basic principle for UNESCO is that countries take maximum account of the values ​​of the world heritage and that there are demonstrably no alternative options that do not affect the world heritage. Furthermore, the options for compensatory measures for this cultural heritage are very limited: the value of the heritage depends namely together with authenticity and is irreplaceable,” the province writes in the letter.

The other three locations are not immediately suitable. These are, for example, too close to the Natura 2000 area, harbor protected animal and plant species or are important from a cultural-historical and archaeological point of view.

Research shows that all locations are negatively affected by gas extraction. “This applies to a large extent to location 8, which is located in the scenically valuable ash landscape”, the province writes. Location 8 is located on the road De Jaren, near Vledder. This is a historic road from 1832, with a historical relationship between settlements and essen. These locations are located on the valuable cultural-historical ash of Vledder.

The province writes to State Secretary Vijlbrief that the preservation and protection of the archaeologically and culturally-historically valuable ash trees is central to the policy of the province. “We do not see location 8 as a suitable alternative as it severely affects the landscape on the ash,” is the advice of the province to the State Secretary.

In that regard, according to the province, there are still two locations left. One near Noordwolde and one near Vledder. The ministry itself already writes about the location near Noordwolde that it will probably be dropped due to technical reasons.

The province also writes about the location near Vledder that nitrogen deposition occurs especially at this location when gas is extracted. “However, mitigating or compensatory measures can be taken, according to the report.” This field is located approximately 40 meters south of the nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 area Drents-Friese Wold and the Leggelderveld. It is likely that something went wrong during the construction of the drilling rigs. Nitrogen is then already released and the maximum amount of nitrogen that may reach the ground is exceeded.