Airports can operate without a nature permit, minister says

Eindhoven Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Airport do not need a nature permit after all, according to outgoing Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen). She informed the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, that she is imposing an upper limit on nitrogen emissions from air traffic at the two airports. This limit corresponds to the emissions calculated by the airports.

"This will prevent more nitrogen being emitted in the future," said van der Wal. The formal decision will be taken on Monday. It will then be published in the Government Gazette.

The impact of airports on nature reserves and the minister's refusal to take action against this have been the subject of legal proceedings for years. The environmental organization MOB, among others, thinks that the airports must be significantly reduced in size and is attempting to enforce this in court. Even after Van der Wal's decision, this legal battle is not over yet.

MOB chairman Johan Vollenbroek said that his organization will also challenge this decision. Vollenbroek called it "another goat trail by the old Cabinet" and "a stopgap solution." He accuses the minister of "legal obstruction," as the decision will lead to further delays in a dossier that has been dragging on for years.

In her letter, the outgoing minister explained that the applications submitted by the two airports were equivalent to "existing rights" which they had already held for years and were irrevocable. Therefore, according to the minister, there was "no need for approval." She was responding in part to the critical rulings of the court in Gelderland, which earlier this year was not convinced that the government was taking sufficient measures against nitrogen emissions to protect nature reserves.

Therefore, airports will be subject to a binding nitrogen standard and are obliged to report on it every year.