Ineo’s Project One in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, has received a ‘strengthened’ environmental permit.
In yet another update to what is supposed to become Europe’s ‘most sustainable ethane cracker’, Flemish minister for Justice and Enforcement, Environment, Energy and Tourism Zuhal Demir has issued a new permit just months after Project One regained its environmental permit this January.
The permit issued in January was based on an 800-page environmental assessment by Ineos. Appeal procedures have since been opened against it and experts have warned that a permit based on an environmental assessment by the company involved was at risk of being repealed.
Now, Demir has granted a new permit that refers to Flanders' Nitrogen Decree as a legal basis rather than Ineos’ environmental assessment. The Nitrogen Decree has been a source of much contention in Flanders, a region of Belgium which suffers from high levels of nitrogen emissions from agriculture and industry. An excess of nitrogen in the atmosphere pollutes land, water, and air, exacerbates climate change, and depletes the ozone layer.
An amended version of the Decree was approved by the Flemish Parliament on Jan. 24, 2024, just three weeks after Project One regained its permit. It regulates how farmers and companies can obtain permits for projects which emit nitrogen, which encompasses ethane crackers.
Ineos did not apply for the new permit – the process was initiated by Minister Demir.
“Let it be clear: no relaxation was made on the environmental conditions,” Demir said. “However, this does lead to the permit decision being strengthened,” she added.
The issuing of the new permit means that existing appeal procedures against the permit issued in January will lapse.
Environmental groups which have been fighting Project One have called the issuing of the new permit a strategy to ‘buy time’. The groups Ineos Will Fall and Climaxi said they are ‘shocked’ by the minister’s decision.
“This permit comes as a complete surprise to us: how can a permit be granted without a public enquiry? How can an appeal procedure simply lapse without a ruling?,” Climaxi wrote on a statement in its website.
“By taking legal steps, the Flemish government is buying time. In the meantime, the cracker can continue to be built and the chance that the work will be completed when the judge makes a ruling is increasing,” the group added.
Construction work is underway, with over 1,300 workers are already on site. In June, Ineos announced the site achieved its first major landmark with the installation of the ethane tank.
The site had its original environmental permit revoked in July 2023 by the Flemish Council for Permit Disputes.
The legal NGO ClientEarth, acting with 13 other NGOs, filed a suit contesting the permit granted to Ineos, stating that Project One failed to meet the legal requirements and should not go ahead. Separately, the authorities of Zeeland and North Brabant in the Netherlands also decided to take legal action, arguing that the permit for Project One had been issued without an appropriate environmental impact assessment being made. An assessment had been made, but this did not meet the definition of ‘appropriate’ in its consideration of the impact of the nitrogen emissions from the cracker on the nature reserves in the ports of Flanders and the Netherlands.
Ineos appealed the decision in October 2023. When Demir first issued it with a new environmental permit on Jan. 7, 2024, Ineos said the decision ‘finally brings clarity to all Ineos Olefins Belgium employees and subcontractors involved and gives hope to other companies in Flanders with similar projects’.
According to Ineos, Project One would be climate-neutral within 10 years of the cracker's start-up, The initial operation target of 2026 in unlikely to be met in light of recent permitting delays. The plant is set to have a capacity of 1.45 million tonnes a year.