The construction of the controversial INEOS ethane cracker resumed in the Port of Antwerp after the Flemish Government made a U-turn and provided the project with a permit.
As expected, INEOS' ethane cracker in the Port of Antwerp – a plant where ethylene is made by 'cracking' the molecules of ethane gas at temperature – has received a conditional new environmental permit from Flemish Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA). The permit covers the construction and operation of the installation 'Project One' by the British chemical company.
"Based on the file before us, the appropriate assessment and the conditionally favourable opinions, we are delivering this environmental permit," Demir said in a statement on Sunday night.
The original permit was granted in June 2022, but in July one year later, the environmental permit was annulled by the Council for Permit Disputes after an appeal was lodged from the Netherlands. The Council argued that the permit could not demonstrate why the nitrogen deposition of the cracker would not harm a nearby nature reserve. The Flemish government was given six months to make a new decision, a deadline nearing its end.
However, the decision has now been taken. The requested opinions of various bodies and authorities involved, from the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM) to the Flemish Energy and Climate Agency (VEKA) and the Department of the Environment were all (conditionally) favourable.
Economic importance
Earlier last week, the project received a "partially conditionally favourable" opinion from the Environment Department. The report said that "the nuisance and effects on people and the environment and the risks to external safety caused by the project applied for can be reduced to an acceptable level, provided the permit conditions are met".
The permit was delivered on the condition that INEOS makes the plant climate-neutral within 10 years of the start of operations, but only "insofar as the techniques and infrastructure are available at that time".
This is, however, sooner than the date the deputation put forward with 2040. During the operation phase, strict emission and discharge standards must also be respected, the permit states.
The minister hinted at the economic importance of the dossier, adding that the permit is about "much more than the applicant himself", but instead about Flemish subcontractors, Flemish jobs and Flemish prosperity. "I am counting on the applicant to strictly comply with the permit conditions so that the balance with the environment is also guaranteed."
Mixed reviews
INEOS welcomed the decision and noted that it "will comply with the strictest environmental regulations". It once again argued that the proposed ethane cracker in the port of Antwerp is the "most sustainable of its kind in Europe": carbon emissions from the cracker are, according to INEOS, as much as three times lower than those of the average European cracker.
However, the move was heavily criticised by others. Flemish MP Mieke Schauvliege (Groen) argued that the threats by Jim Ratcliffe (the top executive of INEOS), have worked. He travelled down to Belgium to discuss the annulment of the permit at the highest political level in a meeting where Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) was also dialled in.
A protest against the plant. Credit: Belga/ Nils Quintelier
"The Flemish Government is delivering a licence to order and dancing to the tune of an impatient billionaire," Schauvliege said, calling the decision scandalous. She also argued that the project is anything but climate-neutral.
"Because of this project, there will still be massive drilling for shale gas. There will still be massive production of disposable plastic. It exacerbates the climate crisis and causes many local residents health problems."
INEOS Will Fall (IWF), one of the organisations protesting agasint the project, agreed. "What will they do in 10 years if the conditions are not met? Tear the place down again?" the group said on social media. "Stop playing with our and our children's future and invest in truly sustainable and climate-neutral industry."
