Groningen home owners in court for earthquake compensation

groningen earthquake damageA group of 900 home owners and 12 housing corporations from Groningen are in court on Monday in an effort to win immediate compensation for the impact of earthquakes on the value of their properties.

They want gas extraction company NAM, a 50:50 private company owned by Shell and ExxonMobil, to compensate them now because their houses are worth less. NAM says it won’t pay out until the properties are actually sold.

Tens of thousands of buildings in Groningen province have been affected by subsidence caused by the land settling after gas has been extracted. The government has scaled back extraction volumes in an effort to reduce the problems.

The foundation representing the home owners says values have dropped by 5% to 25%, depending on the location. NAM says 5% is the maximum damage.

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