The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK), the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) and the municipalities of Emmen and Coevorden will determine the amount that Schoonebeek will receive from oil extraction. The village will soon have to decide on the destination of the money and its distribution. And that must be properly arranged. That is a nutshell about what the meeting about the ‘contribution track’ from oil extraction in the Aole Gemientehoes in Schoonebeek was about.
The government and the House of Representatives want areas where gas and oil extraction takes place to receive part of the revenues back in the future. Schoonebeek is an experiment for the government in this respect. Although the evening was not about it, various interest groups already have advanced ideas about where the money should be spent. There are differences, but also many similarities, regardless of whether you are for or against oil extraction and the injection of waste water into the empty gas field.
That is still completely unclear. From the audience sounds “we count on 25 percent.” It won’t be that much. The NAM has always talked about a substantial amount. And a large part of that amount will have to come from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which also negotiates on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, the ministry that receives 60 percent of the Schoonebeker’s petroleum revenues.
And is the amount related to the revenue, the profit or should it be a fixed amount? And before or after tax? EZK, NAM and the two municipalities are negotiating this under the leadership of the province. Project leader Jacob Spiegelaar of NAM: “The challenge is not just to arrange this for Schoonebeek. So this needs time because the government has to distribute resources differently. Schoonebeek is a pilot, but it will soon apply to the entire country.” That also explains the long and complicated negotiation.
Tjisse Stelpstra, chairman of the Contribution Track and deputy, talks about an experiment. “Walk over the bridge a bit while we are still building it. But the money really needs to get into the area here. By the end of 2023, the amount and who contributes what should be clear. Before the permit to inject the wastewater is granted is becoming.”
“I am glad that we are sitting at the table, our interest is your interest”, alderman René van der Weide responds to skeptical questions from the audience. “Municipalities are normally not at the table in these kinds of large processes. It is money for the environment, not to close the budget of the municipality. And whether it has to end up at 1, 5 or 10 kilometers from the Aole Gemientehoes, I don’t know that yet.”
For Albert Rave of the Stop Afvalwater Schoonebeek (SAS) action group, the big gain of the evening is that it is now really clear that both EZK, NAM and both municipalities want to make the money available for the area where oil extraction and the injection of waste water are carried out. empty gas field. Rennie Hans and Margriet Weerman of Naoberschap Oliedorp (NOD) – another action group – and Dorpsbelangen chairman Jos van Hees (DBS) are of course happy with this.
Stelpstra does have ideas about it. But what does a representative group from the village that will (co-)decide on it look like? He wants to know that from the inhabitants. And then it turns out that there is a little less unity in the room. Soon suggestions come along that members should include the Ontzorgtafel. The Relief Table is the other consultation with Schoonebeek about wastewater injection and oil extraction and if something does go wrong.
But SAS and NOD are also mentioned as participants, including by alderman René van der Weide. Margriet Weerman of NOD warns: “Experts, but no open registration!” In short: this egg is far from being laid. But basically all parties want the same thing: a club from and from the village that (co-)decides.
SAS wants a guarantee fund to be set up for damage caused by oil extraction or waste water injection. Including reversed burden of proof, where NAM must prove that damage was not caused by mining activities.
According to Deputy Stelpstra, the process is sufficiently secured “because there is an independent damage committee that investigates whether a claim is justified. If an operator such as NAM no longer has any money, there is backstop from the government. A guarantee fund therefore adds nothing.”
SAS wants the money for the region to end up in the area where the petroleum is extracted and the wastewater will be pumped into the empty gas field. So around the village of Schoonebeek and a part of the municipality of Coevorden, just as large as the oil and natural gas field itself.
State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief must make clear how much money he has in mind for the ‘contribution track’ and the NAM must do the same, says SAS. “So far, the NAM only talks about a substantial amount and the municipalities, Economic Affairs and the NAM have been talking about this for months now through a scout.” Be transparent and tell the residents of Schoonebeek how far things are and what any amounts are, says SAS’s call.
As far as the action group is concerned, the agreements about money from oil extraction will be included in the agreements that have already been made at the Relief Table about waste water and oil extraction. And should villagers actually have a say in the distribution. For example, they must be able to participate in the discussion via, for example, a working group in which every current and every interest from Schoonebeek is represented.
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