Is there support among the residents of Schoonebeek for injecting untreated waste water from NAM’s petroleum extraction into an empty gas field below the village? A group of about 8 inhabitants from the village will conduct a survey among the Schoonebekers about this question.
Dorpsbelangen Schoonebeek is happy with this, because the association cannot conduct such a survey itself. According to chairman Jos van Hees, the board of the association is ‘hopelessly divided’ on the subject.
The NAM wants to inject the wastewater from petroleum extraction into an empty gas field under Schoonebeek. According to the NAM, fully or partially purifying and reusing the water is more expensive and worse for the environment than putting it untreated in an empty gas field.
Because the board is divided about injecting the wastewater from NAM’s oil extraction, Dorpsbelangen is seeking support for taking a position on the issue.
“One person within our board is blank, the other thinks it’s fine and another thinks that we should not want to inject this at all. Partly for this reason, we want to know how the residents of Schoonebeek feel about it and what position we as an association subsequently can take.”
Dorpsbelangen hopes that the Schoonebekers will now make themselves heard clearly and not only afterwards when a decision has already been made.
The division in the board of Dorpsbelangen resembles the split in which the entire oil village is in. This was also revealed last week at the information meeting for residents.
There were people for injecting the waste water, because ‘NAM has always been good for Schoonebeek’. But there were also residents who didn’t like it at all, ‘about my dead body’, as was said by critics at the time.
Van Hees is particularly pleased that the plans for processing the waste water are finally coming to life in the village.