TLN, together with other industry associations, is preparing a damage claim to compensate entrepreneurs for damage caused by the PFAS and nitrogen policies. The cabinet measures presented this week are too limited and come too late, the industry associations said.
The cabinet on Wednesday presented measures to defuse the nitrogen and PFAS crisis. TLN is positive about the measures against nitrogen, but fears that they will take too long to be effective. As for the measures to defuse the PFAS crisis, TLN is disappointed.
Stalled trucks
Together with VNO-NCW, Bouwend Nederland and Cumela, among others, TLN wants to recover from the government the damage caused to businesses by the ongoing PFAS and nitrogen problems. "Letting trucks idle costs géld. Leaving your employees on the bench costs even more money. Entrepreneurs don't have that money," says TLN director Jan Boeve. "And especially since it looks like entrepreneurs will often have to remain idle for the time being, we are now seriously investigating how we will tackle such a claim."
'Cabinet fails to see urgency'
The PFAS crisis is more acute for many transport companies than the nitrogen crisis because soil movement in the Netherlands is now largely at a standstill. "So are the transport companies that transport soil, sand and gravel." Yet the cabinet has not made any headway with the PFAS dossier, Boeve said. "The cabinet repeated the measures previously announced. That there will be a new standard for the use of soil containing PFAS by 1 December at the latest. Companies do not have that time. I don't feel that the cabinet recognises this urgency."
'Nitrogen measures take too long'
Regarding the measures against nitrogen, TLN is more positive. "Very good that the cabinet recognises what needs to be done," says Boeve. "Nice that the cabinet is now taking sufficient measures to allow at least the most important housing and road construction projects to go ahead. But it is taking too long. Before these measures are approved by the Council of State and we see the effect, we are weeks to months away." The cabinet wants to come up with a threshold value for nitrogen in December. "That is very nice, provided the cabinet adopts the thresholds proposed by industry. But we cannot stress enough the urgency. As a country, we cannot afford to dawdle on this file."
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