Oranjedorp Mineral Resources Controversy: RCE Contradicts Emmen Council’s Story

The issue of the destroyed mineral resources in Oranjedorp is leading to new questions among the various Emmer council groups. In the second part of the research podcast program Zembla The Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) contradicts the mayor and aldermen’s story on points.

In the morning he appeared in the Every day from Northn the report that Emmen was already criticized by the province of Drenthe in December for mistakes at Oranjedorp. The reason Hart voor Emmen and CDA, among others, sounded the alarm again at the council.

Introduced two weeks ago Zembla in a podcast that the city of Emmen has taken wrong steps in building a distribution center near Oranjedorp. Archaeological mineral resources would be lost as a result. The town council was not told about this in advance. At an urgent debate held last Thursday, the council, and especially the responsible councilor René van der Weide (Wakker Emmen), apologized.

On Tuesday, Professor Jos Bazelmans, head of archeology at the RCE, responded angrily to the advisor’s statements. According to Van der Weide, the RCE could have played a major role in preventing the loss of the archaeological finds at Oranjedorp. The RCE contested this and called the elder’s story ‘incomplete or even false.’ According to the RCE, the town was largely holding back and the RCE mostly tried to turn the tide on their own.

The developments are raising new questions among council groups who thought they had heard all the answers last week. “It is the gift that keeps on giving“, sighs Robert de Jong from Hart voor Emmen. He is uncertain about the differences between the stories of the RCE and the account of the elder during the crisis discussion. And especially on the basis on which the senior -municipal officer’s decisions about the role of the RCE. “One thing does not correspond to another.”

“First there was the podcast, that’s right,” said CDA group director Rene Wittendorp. “We will then hold an emergency debate, which will be a mutual hearing.” Usually you’re already there, he says. “But the podcast and the regional letter raise new questions,” said the director of the CDA. It is clear that the Christian Democrats do not want more surprises. “We want to ask the council how we can break the cycle, how we can solve this.” Wittendorp also believes that the council should have contacted the council about the letter much earlier.

Van der Weide answered the questions that followed from the opposition parties at the council meeting tonight. “The media is giving the impression that we are blaming the RCE. That is not true. We mostly looked at ourselves and what didn’t go well. I explained the timeline and I also talked about the RCE.”

According to councilor Wakker Emmen, the city had no role in notifying the RCE. However, the city has asked the responsible project developer Solidiam to conduct additional research. Solidiam contacted the EARTH research group for this purpose. Van der Weide: “EARTH acted on Solidiam’s behalf and EARTH subsequently informed the RCE.”

Van der Weide says he regrets the conversation with the RCE. “I actually said last week that only the RCE, and therefore the government, at a certain point was still able to block the construction of the distribution centre. . I will not participate.