Inquiry issues damning report into Dutch gas drilling

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch parliamentary inquiry has released a damning report into the government’s handling of lucrative natural gas extraction that caused a string of earthquakes in the northern province of Groningen. The report says profits were put before people in the region. The conclusions in the nearly 2,000-page report are the latest damaging blow to the credibility of Dutch governments that have been led for more than a decade by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. He has called the findings “hard and painful.” Gas was extracted in Groningen for decades by a consortium including energy giants Shell and ExxonMobil before the Dutch government, spurred into action by quakes that were shaking homes in the region, took a decision in 2018 to gradually stop pumping gas.