© Marc Herremans
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Lantis, the developer of the Oosterweel Connection, can no longer move soil contaminated with PFOS at its yards on the Left Bank for the time being. On Thursday, the Council of State suspended the declaration of conformity of a technical report that makes this earthmoving possible. “We are currently investigating the exact consequences of this judgment,” Lantis responds.
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Patrick Van de Perre
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It is Grondrecht, a collective of citizens from Zwijndrecht and Antwerp, among others, that approached the Council of State. The citizens’ collective wants the soil contaminated with PFOS, which comes from 3M in Zwijndrecht, to be processed in a way that is “responsible for the environment and public health”.
“Now that the Council of State has suspended the declaration of conformity, we assume that Lantis will no longer be allowed to move or process contaminated soil for the time being and that they will have to do their homework in that area again. The judgment is good news in the sense that the Council of State shares our concerns,” said Spokesperson for Fundamental Rights Jonas Vernimmen.
Lantis does not want to anticipate the consequences of the judgment for the time being. “We are currently investigating the exact consequences of this judgment. We can only respond once this is clear,” said the spokeswoman for Lantis Annik Dirkx.
“For health, not against Oosterweel”
The consequences of the judgment are major for the construction of, among other things, the Scheldt tunnel on the Left Bank and the completion of the Ring. It seems very likely that they cannot continue at the moment.
“Grondrecht is not against the construction of the Oosterweel connection. All we want is for the contaminated soil to be dug up and stored in a responsible manner,” continues Jonas Vernimmen.
“Now that the Council of State has suspended the declaration of conformity, we assume that Lantis will no longer be allowed to move or process contaminated soil for the time being and that BAM will have to redesign its plans for excavating and stocking PFOS soil. The judgment is good news in the sense that the Council of State shares our concerns, but we will only be happy if work is done to clean up our living environment.”
In that civil case, Grondrecht demands, together with Greenpeace, an environmental injunction claim in the Oosterweel file. The claim has since been declared admissible. There is not yet a ruling in this case.
“The judgment of the Council of State is a step in the right direction and will hopefully lead to Lantis and the Flemish government dealing with the processing of contaminated soil in a different way. Because in the end that’s all we care about. We do not want people to be exposed to the harmful effects of PFOS.”
No appeal is possible against the judgment. This means that Lantis can no longer move the ground to a safety berm on the 3M grounds in Zwijndrecht. It seems that Lantis will have to adjust its working method to allow the construction of the Oosterweel connection to continue.
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