Gas extraction proposal angers Terschelling residents

There is a lot of unrest on among Terschelling residents about possible gas drilling in the Wadden Sea. 

The Dutch oil and gas company Tulip Oil wants to extract from a gas bubble in the North Sea which is between 3 to 6 kilometers off the coast of Terschelling, De Telegraaf reports. According to Tulip Oil's website, they were granted a concession for exploration of the gas bubble.

The action group Gas(t)vrij Terschelling plans to object to the proposed drilling at every public consultation. "We will inform the islanders as much as possible about the plans and let them know that they can have an impact." spokesperson Annet van Essen said to De Telegraaf. According to her, the objections to any gas drilling involves, among other things, that chemicals will be pumped into the ground (fracking) and that a lot of CO2 will be released during the drilling.

Tulip Oil understands the unrest among the residents of Terschelling, but blames it on a misunderstanding. According to the company, the residents wrongly think that a production license has already been granted, NOS reports. A so-called environmental impact assessment (EIA) has to be done before the production license can be granted. This will show the environmental impact prior to the decision.

According to Tulip Oil, the gas in the gas bubble at Terschelling contains conventional gas, which contains a lot of carbon dioxide. "The CO2 content is large, we will look at how to handle it", Joost den Dulk of Tulip Oil said to NOS. Tulip Oil can't yet answer the questions about whether there will be drilling on the island itself and whether there will be fracking. "Those decisions will be made based on the environmental impact assessment."