Show how complex and disruptive the Groningen gas file is. With that aim in mind, chairman Tom van der Lee (GroenLinks) kicked off the parliamentary inquiry into gas extraction in Groningen at the end of June. In that first week, in which twelve people were interviewed, the House of Representatives’ committee of inquiry immediately wanted to show how complicated the file is, but also how far-reaching.
Scientists told how they had warned about earthquakes from gas extraction for years, but were never heard. Oil company directors admitted that they had underestimated the damage to buildings and lost sight of the interests of residents. A former VVD minister was questioned about important decisions, but could remember little about them. And residents told, sometimes very emotional, how much the tremors in the area have turned their lives upside down.
The parliamentary inquiry, the most serious means of investigation available to the House, must reveal the truth about the gas file. In sixty years, the Dutch state earned more than 400 billion euros from gas, money that could be spent on building the welfare state. But the resulting earthquakes left “deep scars in people’s lives,” Van der Lee said in June.
The committee wants to find out what the contracts between the government and gas extractors Shell and ExxonMobil (who collaborated in the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij – NAM) looked like, how damage settlement and reinforcement of houses went at crucial moments, which interests and considerations played a role in decision-making, and how the interests of Groningers were dealt with.
Read here the blog about the first survey week
After an eight-week summer break, the public hearings will resume on August 29. In six weeks, at least another sixty people will be heard. The committee of inquiry, which consists of seven members of the House of Representatives, now wants to “go into more depth,” said Van der Lee during a press briefing on Thursday. Next week the interrogations will revolve around the severe earthquake (with a magnitude of 3.6) in Huizinge in 2012, according to Van der Lee “an important turning point” at which many people “eyes were opened” about gas extraction.
The mayor of the municipality of Loppersum, which includes Huizinge, is the first to act. Afterwards, scientists from TNO and KNMI and the then inspector-general of the State Supervision of Mines talk about the technical discussions that were held about the quake. Then it is the turn of top officials from gas companies NAM and GasTerra, senior officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) and the then minister Maxime Verhagen (CDA). How did they analyze the quake and how did that affect their decisions?
Former cabinet members
Although the committee will only announce who will be questioned shortly before each survey week, it is certain that more former ministers have been summoned. One of the most important is Henk Kamp (VVD), Minister of Economic Affairs in 2012-2017. He did not intervene after Huizinge when the NAM significantly increased gas production in the following year. From the second week onwards, the Committee of Inquiry will mainly focus on the question of how the decision-making process has taken place.
Kamp’s party colleague and successor Eric Wiebes (minister in 2017-2021) also played an important role. He announced in 2018 that he would stop gas extraction, but then also wanted to do the strengthening of houses differently. This leads to delays for residents to this day.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) may also be heard. He kept largely in the background all those years, while according to the National Ombudsman there was – and still is – a ‘crisis’ in Groningen.
Also read: Even when the farm was already leaning on 63 struts, the cabinet turned the gas tap further open
People who are less known to the general public but who played an important role behind the scenes were also called up: the directors and other senior managers of NAM and shareholders Shell and ExxonMobil. In the first week of interrogation, it was already the turn of former Shell CEO Pieter Dekker, who gave an insight into the thinking of the oil companies. They maintained for years that lowering gas production would not help prevent new earthquakes.
The interrogation of NAM manager Johan de Haan was also enlightening. Although NAM would no longer interfere with the settlement of the damage from 2015, De Haan said that he still sat down “regularly” at the Center for Safe Living, which had taken over that task, to point out “what we expected from them.” and what they did not do well.”
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Information meeting in the Boshal in Loppersum about the risks of natural gas extraction, on January 28, 2013. Photo Kees van de Veen
Next week it will be Bart van de Leemput’s turn. He was chairman of the board of NAM in the period 2009-2014, so also in the time when it was decided to pump up extra gas, just after the severe earthquake in Huizinge.
So far, one person has refused to appear before the committee. Van der Lee revealed on Thursday that Joost van Roost, CEO of ExxonMobil in 2000-2017, will not relent, despite frantic efforts to persuade him. The committee cannot force him either, because Van Roost is not a Dutch citizen but a Belgian. That he does not want to come is “very disappointing”, said Van der Lee, because the preliminary investigation of his committee had made it clear that Van Roost had been an important player. Van der Lee did not want to say why he does not want to come. “It’s not up to us.”
In the week of Budget Day, in the third week of September, there will be a short break so that the MPs can focus on Budget Day and the Budget Memorandum with the most important government expenditures for 2023. After that, it will mainly be about decision-making in the Wiebes period. .
gas prices
The last few weeks may also provide an insight into the problems with gas that are currently at play. Because although the MPs mainly look back on the past, they also want to respond to current developments. There are plenty of them: now that gas is no longer imported from Russia and gas prices are rising, the question is whether the cabinet will open the gas tap in Groningen, which would close within a few years. During the first week of questioning, the committee of inquiry asked various people how they view a possible increase in gas production.
The public hearings will last until mid-October, after which the committee will start writing its final report, which is expected in the spring of 2023. Then it becomes clear to what extent the MPs attribute the accumulation of problems in Groningen to ministers from the past, and what conclusions the incumbent cabinet draws from this for itself. Should State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief (D66), specially appointed in Rutte IV for the Groningen file, resign?
For the inhabitants of Groningen, in addition to acknowledging their suffering, another question may be more important: what can the government do now to solve the problems they have encountered as a result of gas extraction? The Committee of Inquiry also understands the importance of this question. The MPs would like to contribute to ‘future prospects for Groningen’. “We will come up with recommendations that are practical and implementable,” promised committee member Judith Tielen (VVD).
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of August 27, 2022