Revelations of shortcuts on biomass subsidies
Dear friends and followers of the Clean Air Committee (Comité Schone Lucht),
Last week the Dutch news was mainly – and again – focused on Vattenfall’s biomass power plant in Diemen.
Revelations of shortcuts on biomass subsidies
We discovered in collaboration with Leefmilieu and MOB, through two WOO (Open Government Request Act, in Dutch: Wet open overheid) requests, that the millions of government subsidies for the biomass power plant were re-allocated last year (395 million euros). This despite the government’s decision to immediately stop new biomass subsidies and the ruling of the Council of State last year, which annulled the environmental permit for the planned Diemen biomass power plant.
New political error
It became clear to us from the first WOO decision that the award had been made secretly. The central government did not make this decision public. The second WOO decision on communication and decision-making between the minister and Vattenfall subsequently revealed that the subsidy awarded was unlawful. Despite the cabinet decision in April 2022, the mega amount turned out to have been awarded a year later (March 2023). According to the Clean Air Committee, this new allocation is a new political error of unprecedented magnitude in the controversial biomass dossier.
Front page news
Based on our findings, we wrote a press release and Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, was the first to report the news on the front page: “Shortcut Subsidies Vattenfall | Civil servants Rob Jetten helped Vattenfall with a “subsidy for a biomass power plant”. For the entire text of this article, see later in this newsletter.
Our opinion article about BECCS in the Dutch newspaper TROUW
In addition, TROUW published our new opinion piece about the worrying developments in the field of biomass combustion with CO2 capture and storage (BECCS for short) in coal and biomass power stations, entitled “Converted coal-fired power station does not suddenly deliver green energy, on the contrary”. Millions in ‘green’ subsidies will go into it. But capturing CO2 at the chimney of biomass power stations and storing it is not sustainable, argue Fenna Swart and Maarten Visschers on behalf of the Clean Air Committee. For the entire text of the opinion piece, see later in this newsletter.
New appeal against subsidy award
Last but not least, we also filed an appeal against Minister Rob Jetten’s subsidy award. Law firm, The New Paradigm, submitted the grounds of appeal (in Dutch) on behalf of the Clean Air Committee in collaboration with Leefmilieu and MOB, following our pro forma appeal on December 28, 2023, against the decision of the National government. If the minister does not adhere to the rules, we will not shy away from going to court again.
What happens next?
If you would like to be kept informed of these developments and their follow-up or otherwise support us, please let us know. Welcome! Money is needed for this new procedure. Both for court costs and to be able to pay a basic fee to a team of young, enthusiastic lawyers.
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