Environmental groups ask court to scrap Schiphol's nature permit
On Tuesday, the court in The Hague will consider a lawsuit filed by three environmental organizations asking it to scrap Schiphol Airport’s nature permit. According to Greenpeace, Milieudefensie, and Mobilisation for the Environment (MOB), the Dutch government should never have given Schiphol the permit, which allows it space for 500,000 flight movements per year, because it was based on outdated data and violates European nitrogen laws, Nieuwsuur reports.
Every company whose activities could significantly impact protected nature areas must have an nature permit. Schiphol is one of the largest nitrogen emitters in the Netherlands but did not have a permit for years because the government exempted it. In 2020, the government decided that Schiphol had to apply for a nature permit after all. In order to qualify, the airport bought the nitrogen space of nine farms. Then-Nitrogen Minister Christianne van der Wal granted the permit in September.
But according to the nature organizations, the government did not take sufficient account of the nature situation when granting the permit, and that conflicts with European legislation. “In the Netherlands, approximately twice as much nitrogen ends up in nature as should be. Released nitrogen space must first and foremost benefit nature,” Johan Vollenbroek of MOB told the program.
According to Ralph Frins, an associate professor of environmental law, the government exempted Schiphol because “the minister was of the opinion” that projects by private companies did not have to be assessed on whether the released nitrogen space was necessary for nature conservation. “But in February of this year, the Council of State ruled that the test applies to all projects,” Frins told Nieuwsuur. “In that respect, the exceptional situation created is incorrect.”
The environmental organizations also included internal documents from the Ministry of Agriculture in their case. These show that civil servants within the Ministry had doubts about the legal validity of the permit. The documents also show that the Ministry deliberately delayed the permit application procedure so that it did not have to enforce it.
If the court decides to scrap the nature permit, it will have major consequences for Schiphol, Frins said. “ A new assessment will have to be carried out and that will require a lot of extra homework. I think it will take a long time before that puzzle is solved.
Schiphol told Nieuwsuur in a written response that it and the government followed a “careful procedure to arrive at this permit.” It has confidence in this procedure, the airport said. “It is now up to the court to give a verdict.”
It is unclear when the court will rule.
