‘Stop new salt production plan near Winschoten.’ Residents are calling on the Oldambt city council

They did so on Tuesday evening during a meeting organized by that council.

Caverns in Heiligerlee

The salt extraction plan was central to this. It comes from the company Nobian, formerly Akzo Nobel. It has been extracting salt from caverns in Heiligerlee for a long time and now wants to start extracting salt from the ground nearby, on the Zuiderveen. Local residents, united in the Mijnendijn Belang Foundation, want nothing to do with it.

The city council members have a crucial role in whether or not to continue with that new salt extraction and wanted to hear from all those involved again last night. They had their say on the Campus in Winschoten.

Test drilling

The representative of Nobian said that the intention is first to carry out an exploratory drilling at the Zuiderveen and that the final salt extraction plan will then be drawn up. He emphasized that salt extraction is safe, that there is only minor subsidence and that it does not cause earthquakes.

Those words did not reassure Karin Vogd and Harm Vos at all. They spoke on behalf of the local residents (who had come to the Campus in their dozens), pointing to soil subsidence and the fact that Nobian is not even succeeding in closing caverns in Heiligerlee in a good, safe way. ,, And then make new caverns? No”, Harm Vos was very firm.

Fear of division

Karin Vogd pointed out that the Babybos, intended for recreation, is located in the intended new extraction area. “A lot of animals live there and in the area. No salt should be mined there. We can’t do that to the generations that come after us.” She also said she feared that the salt extraction plan would cause division between the residents of Zuiderveen and the surrounding area.

Follow the example of Haaksbergen in Overijssel, that was the message the local residents had for the municipal councilors. There was also a salt extraction plan on the table, but the city council refused to issue a so-called statement of no objection. State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief, who is issuing the final judgment on a permit application for salt production, subsequently decided not to issue that permit. “And that will happen if you don’t make a statement,” Vogd said in the direction of the politicians.

Permit already applied for

Representatives from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the State Supervision of Mines were also present. The first made it clear that a permit for a test drilling by Nobian has now been applied for. Nobian himself emphasized that more knowledge is currently being gathered about the safe closure of caverns at Heiligerlee. “We hope to have that knowledge by the end of this year.”

Those words do not prevent members of the city council, and afterwards also local residents, from asking extremely critical questions to the group. Safety was a word that came up regularly. Safety comes first, said an Oldambt official. As long as this is not guaranteed, there can be no question of new salt production.

With that in mind, the city councilors must decide whether or not to issue a declaration of no objection. When they will do that is not yet known.