Pig farmer caught up in legal tussle due to nitrogen crisis
Environmental lawsuits are increasingly coming to court as a result of an unclear nitrogen policy. The case of a Dutch pig farmer in Reeuwijk has led to a decades-long legal dispute between an environmental organisation, the provincial authorities and the court. Dr Rogier Kegge, Assistant Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, discusses this case in Dutch daily newspaper ‘Trouw’.
Mobilisation for the Environment (MOB), an environmental organisation that engages in numerous lawsuits relating to nitrogen, has expressed surprise that a pig farmer is allowed to use a shed to keep pigs without holding a nature permit. However, the provincial authorities did not grant a request submitted by neighbours to prohibit the shed. MOB appealed to the court, which ruled in favour of the organisation and ruled that the pig farm was illegal. In the meantime, the pig farmer filed a Pas-melding, which amounts to an application under the Integrated Approach to Nitrogen scheme for an exemption from the permit requirement. Again, the court ruled in favour of MOB. However, the provincial authorities once again disregarded the ruling. And so it went five times, reports Trouw.
Dr Kegge explains: ‘The provincial authorities are entitled not to enforce the rulings in this case, provided there is credible justification.’ The party filing the Pas notification needs clarity in the short term. Dr Kegge argues that the Dutch political arena quickly needs to draw up concrete plans and clear rules so that the courts do not need to keep intervening in these cases. A vague, inconsistent nitrogen policy is irritating for all parties concerned.
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Read the full article in Trouw (in Dutch) (€)
Photo: Amy Reed through Unsplash