Granulite deliveries to be suspended shortly
The municipality of West Maas en Waal has requested the court, via an interim injunction (a type of summary proceeding), to immediately halt the use of granulate in Over de Maas in Alphen. This case was heard today at the Court in Arnhem.
In the municipality's view, the use of granulite is highly controversial.
Experts hold conflicting views on the long-term effects of certain substances (particularly polyacrylamide) on the residential and living environment. To date, 781,000 tons of granulite from Amsterdam have already been incorporated into the lake in Over de Maas. The Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management is the responsible authority and has authorized this disposal. The Minister considers this to be a responsible use.
At the Minister’s request, a review is currently underway to assess the impact of processing this granulite in the lake. An independent firm (Arcadis) has been hired for this purpose. During the hearing, an agreement was reached with the sand extraction company Over de Maas BV to immediately cease processing as soon as Arcadis has completed sampling of the delivered batches in accordance with the investigation protocol.
This sampling will take a few more weeks and is necessary to ensure the review proceeds properly. Sand extraction company Over de Maas BV has subsequently agreed not to resume processing until the results of Arcadis’s review have been definitively established.
The Arcadis report is expected in December of this year. Until then, the delivery of granulite will be suspended. This means that deliveries will continue for a few more weeks and then be suspended until the final results of the investigation are known. This expedited procedure is intended solely to halt deliveries as quickly as possible.
Appeals to the District Court and the Council of State
The municipality also has an appeal pending (known as a “merits proceeding”) before the District Court and the Council of State, in which all the issues at stake in the granulite case are being addressed. The purpose of this is to determine whether the Minister has acted correctly in the application of the regulations to date. In this regard, the municipality has requested that an independent body (the Foundation for Administrative Law Advice) issue a definitive ruling.