Wind turbine activists may have spread asbestos in Delfzijl

Translation by Traci White

Dagblad van het Noorden reports that police are currently analysing the substance, which they believe to be asbestos. The area between the station, the police station and city hall has been cordoned off for the investigation, and freight train traffic through the station has been temporarily halted. Passenger trains are still running. The police were notified that an activist was at the station, but when they arrived, the person had already fled the scene.

Contamination

The person who left the substance left a message in Delfzijl: “WARNING: Immediately leave the area. You are currently on contaminated ground. This contamination, asbestos, was brought here by the actions of the Hoornstra construction company, wind concentration camp builders in Drenthe. Anyone who hires this company will also end up with asbestos.”

Activists opposed to the construction of wind turbine parks spread asbestos at the site of a planned nitrogen facility in Meeden. In 2018, the Dutch National Anti-Terrorism and Safety Coordinator warned of the likelihood of “wind turbine terrorism” from groups opposed to construction of wind farms in the region.

Grid capacity issues

But the future of two planned windfarms in Emmen in Drenthe is in doubt due to grid capacity issues. Dagblad van het Noorden reports that network operators Tennet and Enexis do not currently have sufficient capacity for two of the three planned facilities to come online. Both companies have informed the province that it will take seven to ten years before they have sufficient capacity to handle the new wind farms.

The province of Drenthe wants Emmen to eventually produce 95.5 megawatts of electricity from the wind turbines, which are planned to be built near Barger-Compascuum, Westenesch and Nieuw-Weerdinge. Grid limitations are also set to have an impact on a number of planned large scale solar panel projects in Groningen and Drenthe.