Gas Free Municipality Threatens National Interest

NautaDutilh's senior associate Marinke Israëls wrote an opinion article in which she argues that the current discussions about shale gas should not threaten conventional gas exploration and extraction. She urges the Minister of Economic Affairs to apply special regulations to conventional natural gas sites. The article "'Gas free municipality' threatens national interest - Minister Kamp should apply special regulations to conventional natural gas sites", was published in Het Financieele Dagblad on October 11, 2013.

For the Dutch text, please follow this link.

Minister Kamp of Economic Affairs delays the decision about exploratory drilling for shale gas for one and a half year. In the meantime, 82 municipalities and 4 provinces declared themselves 'shale gas-free': they do not cooperate in enabling exploratory drilling for shale gas. The step from 'shale gas-free municipality' to 'gas-free municipality' is small. I already notice in my practice that some