State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief will ask the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM) whether they want to give a higher area contribution to Schoonebeek because of oil extraction. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZK) will not make an additional contribution unless the House of Representatives forces the ministry to do so.
That is the outcome of the mining debate in the House of Representatives. MPs Sandra Beckerman (SP), Julian Bushoff (PvdA/GroenLinks) and Peter de Groot (VVD) tried to urge Vijlbrief to do more for Schoonebeek, but Vijlbrief did not budge: “Economic Affairs is locked, unless the House budget law used.”
It is completely unclear whether the House of Representatives will do that. According to MP Beckerman, so many parties were missing from the debate, including most of the major parties, that nothing can be said about this yet. After the debate, Alderman Jan Bos of the municipality of Emmen announced that the region will lobby so that the House of Representatives will use the budget right. “And NAM can of course always do more, but we are also concerned with the principle that the government will help pay for it.”
CDA Member of Parliament Eline Vedder from Ruinerwold is also on that course, but also sees another escape route. “If we can find a pot, just like with the Flessenhals Meppel, we can solve it that way.” She does not see it simply happening that the House will use budget law. “The forming parties for a new cabinet are keeping a tight grip on their budget.” As far as the CDA is concerned, there will be no permit for NAM to pump wastewater from oil extraction into the empty gas field under Schoonebeek, as long as the discussion about the area contribution for Schoonebeek has not been completed.
Both proponents and opponents of oil extraction and wastewater injection in Schoonebeek, as well as the regional authorities, consider the amount of 30 to 45 million that Schoonebeek receives to be insufficient. Proponent of Naoberschap Oliedorp says that he “hoped for more and that was also discussed”. At the same time, they also see that a lot can be done for the region with this amount. Opponent Stop Afvalwater Schoonebeek thinks the amount is a “tip”, because a total of 3.15 billion worth of oil will be extracted from the ground.
The province of Drenthe and the municipalities of Coevorden and Emmen want a larger financial contribution from the government for oil extraction in Schoonebeek. They also want the government to pay for it itself and not to have it largely paid for by the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM) through a back door. NAM pays sixty percent and Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN), to which NAM donates its oil money, pays forty percent. That is not what has been negotiated, the three governments say.
As a result, approximately two to three million euros will soon go to Schoonebeek every year. But according to the province and the two municipalities, at least two million annually should be added from Economic Affairs and Climate. And structurally please, because otherwise you won’t give Schoonebeek any security.
“I admit, this offer is at the lower end of what former deputy Tjisse Stelpstra and the De Gemeynt agency have selected. But forty million is not a pittance. And if the NAM contribution increases, EBN’s contribution will automatically also increase. “That money from EBN is also money from the state,” Vijlbrief told the House of Representatives.
In addition to Stelpstra and De Gemeynt, Vijlbrief also had Rebel conduct research into what a reasonable amount is. They looked, among other things, at what is happening abroad. Vijlbrief: “Rebel’s research did not provide clear guidance on the amount that should be sent to Schoonebeek. The cabinet will respond to this in February. Perhaps we can return to this in the next debate.”
CDA faction leader René Wittendorp in the Emmer municipal council is also not happy with the amount that is now on the table for Schoonebeek. “In the last meeting, exactly a year ago in the Atlas Theater, a director of the NAM confirmed his previous statement that he assumed a contribution to the area of 10 to 20 percent of oil revenues. For the record: Mr. Stelpstra – a deputy at the time – sat in the front row of that meeting. We find it special that scout Stelpstra now considers a contribution of five to ten percent realistic.”
According to Wittendorp, the contribution that Vijlbrief wants (thirty to 45 million) is not even five percent. Wittendorp wants to know what happened in the past year in the consultation between EZK, NAM, the province and the municipalities about the area contribution and encourages the municipal council to go to The Hague. Alderman Jan Bos will certainly do the latter.
Back to the House of Representatives. SP member Berckerman is not so much about the money for Schoonebeek. She wants to know whether the State Secretary really believes that things need to change with mining and the environment and whether residents really get a say in whether or not mining is allowed. “There is still a survey from Schoonebeek on the table in which a majority does not want wastewater injection from oil extraction.” According to Beckerman, it is still “financially too attractive for NAM and the government” to seriously implement Vijlbrief’s new idea about mining: ‘no yes, if, but, no, unless.’
In the meantime, the NAM informs in a letter to the municipal councils of Emmen and Coevorden that the restart of gas extraction in the almost empty fields of Oosterhesselen, Dalen and Nieuw-Amsterdam is not intended to collect the wastewater from oil extraction in these soon completely empty fields. fuses.