Quakes Giving Dutch Province ‘A Makeover We Don’t Want’
By Dow Jones Newswires
GRONINGEN, The Netherlands — Irma de Joode was talking on the phone with her brother when she heard what sounded like rolls of thunder and felt her entire house jump beneath her feet. The Aug. 16, 2012, earthquake was the biggest ever to rock the flat, green plains of this northern Dutch province. The source was Europe’s biggest natural gas field. The earthquake was one of more than 300 temblors since 1991 that Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and the Dutch government acknowledge were caused by their activities at the Groningen gas field.
The quakes have led to nearly 80,000 damage claims by residents here, prompted a court to order a criminal investigation into the Shell-Exxon joint venture, and led to government limits on gas production to which the companies object.
The quakes have disrupted life in this once wealthy agricultural region, which spools across the north of the Netherlands to the sea in a verdant band punctuated by country villages, redbrick farmhouses and medieval churches.
Shell and Exxon’s joint venture, Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV, or NAM, has vowed to pay for any earthquake-induced damage. It has settled thousands of compensation claims and poured money into government efforts to reinforce local buildings and stimulate the local economy. Efforts are under way to try and improve the claims process.
Write to Sarah Kent at [email protected]
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 25, 2017 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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