The Centrum Veilig Wonen (CVW), the Dutch official contact point related to earthquake damage, counted 1311 damage reports filed after the earthqueke that struck in Zeerijp last Monday. Around 200 damage reports come from the municipality of Zeerijp.
A 3.4-magnitude earthquake rattled the province of Groningen on Monday afternoon. It has been the hardest earthquake in Groningen since 2012. The KNMI meterology agency qualified the earthquake as "heavy".
Bird flu was diagnosed in chickens on a poultry farm in Sint Philipsland, which forms part of the Zeeland municipality of Tholen. The company's approximately 42 thousand laying hens were culled, NOS reports.
The authorities believe that this diagnosis involves a mild variant of the H5 virus. But as a mild variant can mutate into a highly contagious and deadly variant, European rules require the culling of affected animals.
In the first half of this year the Dutch government gave subsidies to a record number of over 4,500 renewable energy projects, the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported on Monday. The subsidies involved a total of over 5.8 billion euros, ANP reports.
Compared to the second half of last year, the number of renewable energy projects more than doubled. Then only 2,200 projects received support from the sustainable energy stimulation regulation SDE+. In the first half of last year, it was only 986 projects.
State Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs is stepping down on September 1st to go to his new job at NPO, whether or not there's a new cabinet. His decision to go through with his planned departure despite the raging fipronil contaminated egg crisis, for which he partially carries responsibility, is leading to criticism from other politicians. Though the poultry sector itself is not sad to see him go, AD reports.
The Netherlands can close all its coal plants, but only if a national law to that effect is implemented, according to advice the Council of State sent to Economic Minister Henk Kamp on Wednesday, ANP reports.
The Tweede Kamer called on Kamp last week to close all the coal plants by making the efficiency requirements so high that they can't be met by any coal plant. The council of state investigated whether this was possible.
The Dutch postal service is in urgent need of a reassessment, Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs said on Monday. Fundamental choices must be made to keep postal delivery affordable and available. This could entail less frequent deliveries at higher costs, he said in a statement, NU.nl reports.
In the Rotterdam World Trade Center on Thursday politicians, companies, architects and inventors signed a 'green deal' for the eventual construction of the Dutch Windhweel - a massive, sustainable building in the shape of a wheel that will, hopefully, generate more energy than it uses. This very ambitious project is still in its planning phase, but if it becomes a reality, it is set to be an icon for green electricity, Trouw reports.
Dutch oil and gas giant NAM is appealing to the Council of State against Minister Henk Kamp's decision to further reduce gas extraction in earthquake plagued Groningen. According to NAM, the Economic Affairs Minister ignored the already established safety standard for gas extraction in the province when making his decision, NU.nl reports.
The Netherlands is Europe's fourth most innovative country, according to the European Commissions' European Innovation Scoreboard for 2016. Sweden took first place, like in 2015, followed by Denmark and Finland. The United Kingdom makes up the top 5, NU.nl reports.
Long waiting lists at international schools in the Netherlands are discouraging highly skilled expats from settling in the country. No matter how attractive a job offer is, if their kids can't go to school, expats will choose against moving to the Netherlands, Financieele Dagblad reports.
While investigating a bribery scandal in the procurement of police and defense vehicles, the Public Prosecutor did not look into possible criminal action by then Defense Minister Henk Kamp, Nieuwsuur reports based on the criminal file. Lower level officials are facing criminal charges and were dismissed for similar actions, according to the news program.
The Dutch government is reducing gas extraction in Groningen by a further 10 percent based on advice from the State supervision on mines SodM that this is the only way to reduce the chance of heavy earthquakes in the region, Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs announced on Tuesday. This year 24 billion cubic meters of gas can be extracted in Groningen, as of October 1st that will be reduced to 21.6 billion cubic meters, NU.nl reports.
The Netherlands wants to be a permanent member of the G20 - an annual meeting of the 20 leading economies in the world. According to Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs, the Netherlands deserves a spot on the G20 as the 17th largest economy in the world, AD reports.
"At the next G20 reshuffle, it is logical that the Netherlands will become a permanent member", Kamp said. "The next Cabinet should work on that."
The energy-intensive industries in the Netherlands managed at the last minute to prevent Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs implementing a law on energy saving by coming up with their own energy saving goals and measures to reach them, NOS reports.
AkzoNobel rejected an unsolicited takeover bid from American company PPG Industries, the Dutch paint and chemicals company announced on Thursday morning after PPG's bid leaked to the media. According to AkzoNobel, the PPG offer is too low and not in the interest of shareholders, customers or staff, ANP reports.
PPG offered 54 euros in cash and 0.3 PPG shares for each AkzoNobel share. Using the PPG share price on February 28th, the bid amounted to 83 euros per AkzoNobel share. The Dutch company's stock closed at 64.52 euros per share on Wednesday.
Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs filed an appeal against a court ruling that stated that he can not simply refuse permission for exploratory drilling for shale gas, Omroep Flevoland reports.
The appeal was made in a case brought by British company Cuadrilla. The company wanted to do exploratory drilling for shale gas in the Noordoosttpolder, among other places. Kamp decided not to renew the company's permit to do so, given the social unrest on gas extraction.
Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen launched a global campaign to bring a massive Tesla factory to north Netherlands. "Hi Tesla. We are Top Dutch", the website launched with the campaign reads.
Gas extraction in Groningen will not be further reduced for the time being, the Council of State ruled in an emergency case filed by concerned local residents, GIC reports.
At this stage NAM is allowed to extract 24 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Groningen gas flied per year.
The government will not make a decision this year on closing the coal plants in the Netherlands, sources in The Hague told news wire ANP. This is expected to annoy parliament, who wants Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs to make haste with the closure of the plants.
Shell is teaming up with energy company Eneco and offshore company Van Oord to build a massive wind farm off the shore of Borssele in Zeeland .The wind farm will consist of about 100 windmills and will generate enough energy to supply a million households, AD reports.
The Dutch government wants everyone in the country to have access to high speed internet. Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs calls wireless internet a basic need, such as water and electricity. The government is working hard to make fast wireless internet available to everyone in the Netherlands, RTL Nieuws reports.
The government wants the Netherlands to be nearly CO2 emissions free by 2050, according to Economic Minister Henk Kamp's Energy Agenda. The Agenda contains a number of measures to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and encourage sustainable living. Environmental organizations call the plan unambitious, NU.nl reports.
The Netherlands nominated itself to be the location for a new European plant for American electric car manufacturer Tesla. "The government will certainly endeavour to get the production plant to the Netherlands", Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs wrote to parliament, the Financieele Dagblad reports.
A total of 20 confidential documents were found in Economic Minister Henk Kamp's private email account, which he used for work puroposes for a long time, the Minister wrote to parliament on Thursday following an investigation by the national auditing service ADR. One of those documents contained a state secret with the highest classification of "Zeer Geheim", or Very Secret in English, NU.nl reports.
