NAM could face €20 mil. fine for secretly dumping hazardous waste in empty gas fields
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) recommended a fine of €20 million in a criminal case against the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM). According to the OM, NAM secretly dumped large amounts of hazardous waste into empty underground gas fields in Groningen and handled hazardous substances without the proper permits, NOS reports.
NAM generated the waste during the processing of natural gas from the North Sea, among other things, and then injected it into empty underground gas fields near Borgsweer in Groningen. The processing contains a large amount of water, which must be separated from the natural gas. This contaminates the water
According to the OM, NAM designated the water as regular wastewater and injected it into the empty gas fields. But the natural gas processing contaminates the wastewater with mercury, and the water must therefore be handled as hazardous waste. NAM did not have the proper permits to inject hazardous waste into the empty Groningen gas fields.
The injection posed no risk to people or the surrounding environment. But according to the OM, “the key question is not whether environmental damage occurred, but rather transparency.” The fact that the substances did not affect humans or nature does not mean that they were not legally hazardous, the OM said. Different rules apply to hazardous substances than to less hazardous or harmless substances.
The other allegations related to how NAM handled hazardous substances. The company accepted hazardous substances at a processing site where it was not allowed to. By not handling these substances according to the rules, NAM profited by over €5 million. The OM wants to recover that amount in the fine recommended. These abuses occurred between 2010 and 2022.
Martijn Kleverlaan, director of NAM Noord-Nederland, denied some of the accusations in court on Monday, NOS reports. He argued that in some cases, the substances were not hazardous or that NAM had the proper permits. On other points, Kleverlaan acknowledged that the company made “administrative errors.”
The OM also played several tapped conversations by NAM management in court. One showed that NAM tried to influence the OM’s decisions in the case through former Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Earlier in the case, the OM considered prosecuting several NAM employees personally, but eventually decided against it due to insufficient grounds. The tapped conversation showed that NAM tried to prevent the prosecution of its directors through Rutte. According to the OM, the Ministry of Economic Affairs rightly told NAM that it could not influence the OM’s decisions.
