Groningen gas field induced earthquakes: Did industry intentionally set up their study to be too small so as to escape paying homeowners the billions of dollars in damages the court ordered paid?

TRUST IN DUTCH GAS BOTTOMS OUT ON INVESTIGATION OF EARTHQUAKE REPORT by Janene Pieters, Netherlands Times, Aug 19, 2016

Scientists at TU Delft sharply criticized the conclusions of a study into the risk of earthquake damage to homes and buildings on the edge of the Groningen gas field. The scientists found that the number of buildings examined in the study was too small to make a general statement or draw a conclusion, NOS reports.

The study was performed by research firm Arcadis on behalf of NAM last year. NAM is the company that extracts gas from Groningen, causing numerous fracking earthquakes in the region. The outcome of the study was that the risk of damage to buildings on the edge of the gas field is so small its negligible. That means that NAM does not have to pay compensation for the damage to houses in the area, as the damage was almost certainly not caused by the fracking earthquakes, according to the broadcaster.

Hans Alders, the National Coordinator for Groningen, asked TU Delft scientists to check the study and its conclusions. The Delft scientists concluded that the number of examined buildings is too small to make a general statement about all damaged buildings in the area. They also found that the boundaries of the area in which NAM does cover damages were drawn to small. [To avoid paying the billions of dollars in damages the court ordered oil and gas companies to pay harmed homeowners?]

Based on this Alders decided that all damaged properties, even on the edge of the gas field, will be evaluated individually. He wants this to also apply to future damages related to fracking earthquakes. He asked NAM to conduct the individual inspections. [. Why let the guilty party do the inspections? Emphasis added]

[Reality Check:

2013 06 28: Thumbs down on fracking in The Netherlands, 55 prominent environment professors of Dutch universities issued manifest against fracking

2013 07 08: Earthquakes from onshore gas drilling threaten a disaster, warn residents of Dutch city, Residents of the Dutch city of Groningen are up in arms over onshore gas drilling that has triggered earthquakes, damaging homes and sending property prices crashing

2014 01 18: Nearly $2 billion property damages in Groningen from gas drilling induced earthquakes

2014 11 28: 100,000 Netherlands Homes Harmed by Natural Gas Extraction, Over 700 private homeowners and 12 Groningen housing corporations suing Netherlands Petroleum Company (NAM)

2015 02 20: Quakes in Gas Fields Ignored for Years, Dutch Safety Agency’s report a relevant read for any fracking zone; Fox Creek frac quakes make AER play deregulation with you and your loved ones: “Red Light = Green Light”

2015 07 11: Dutch government bans shale gas drilling for 5 years

2015 09 08: Netherlands court orders Shell & Exxon Mobil to pay 100,000 homeowners billions of dollars in quake damages

2015 11 19: Netherlands court orders more cuts in gas production after stronger and more frequent earthquakes continue ]

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