The European Union’s decision to launch experiments with storing the greenhouse gas carbondioxide underground has been welcomed by prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who describes the process as ‘economically interesting’ for the Netherlands.

The Netherlands sees the empty gas fields in the north of the country as potential storage places for CO2.
‘The storage of CO is a promising technology. It is economically interesting for the Netherlands to be a leader,’ the prime minister said in the Financieele Dagblad.
EU leaders agreed on Saturday to make €6bn available for gas storage projects after strong lobbying from companies including Shell, as well as the Dutch and British governments.

Steel concerns
Meanwhile, the Telegraaf reports that steel group Corus, which has a major plant in IJmuiden is angry that the EU wants it and other steel companies to reduce their emissions by 40% in 2020, compared with 1990 levels.
But Corus denied a report in a British newspaper that Corus would leave Europe if the limits were not revised. ‘We are not planning to move European production locations physically outside Europe,’ a spokesman told the paper.
Corus employs 9,500 people in IJmuiden. The global workforce numbers 40,000.