Destruction in the area of Groningen, The Netherlands, caused by earthquakes, courtesy of Shell/Exxon
Groningen has been one of Europe's richest gas fields for 30 years, and thousands of people say their homes have been damaged by the tremors that drilling sets off. Now a class action may finally bring them compensation - and force a rethink of European energy security
Five years ago, Annemarie Heite and her husband, Albert, bought their dream home; a traditional 19th-century farmhouse in Groningen province in the northern Netherlands. The couple planned to raise their two young daughters in this charming corner of the Dutch countryside. "Then, the living was still easy, and affordable," Annemarie says, her tone bittersweet and nostalgic. Today, their house is scheduled for demolition.
Hundreds of earthquakes have wrecked the foundations of the Heites' home and made it unsafe to live in. Annemarie's biggest fear is the safety of her daughters. She points to a room. "This is where my children sleep," she says, "and everyday I'm just picking up pieces of bricks and stuff from the ceiling."
Heite fears that her children may not be any safer at school. Her daughter Zara goes to a local primary school that has not been structurally reinforced to withstand strong earthquakes. "I feel powerless. It feels like I can't do anything," Heite says. "It's not like I'm a frantic, hysterical person, but nobody is taking this seriously, not the school or the mayor, no one."
Comment: In the anthropocentric worldview upheld by Western liberals, man is always responsible for 'nature going wrong' - in this case, causing earthquakes. It's very ironic because, in the old days, man's 'sins' were blamed by the Church for causing environmental calamities, a stance that is pooh-poohed as 'archaic' today... even though the same stance also predominates today, only now it's shrouded in mumbo-jumbo scientifico-speak.
While it is plausible that gas production in the Netherlands is having knock-on effects that have led to the recent spate of earthquakes and tremors there, it should be noted that these quakes only began causing damage to homes about 5 years ago, while the Dutch government has since cut production "by 58% to its lowest level in 30 years."
It's too early to tell because Shell and Exxon Mobil only recently 'took their foot off the pedal', but if earthquakes there were to now increase in spite of the drastic reduction in gas extraction, the scapegoaters may need to go back to the drawing board and come up with an alternative narrative for why people's homes are crumbling.