RWE/Essent can press on with building a new coal-fired power station in Groningen even though the project does not have a proper environmental permit.

Groningen provincial council on Friday said it had given the project a nine-month permit to continue.
Provincial councillors in Groningen voted earlier this month to allow the building to continue. The permit was torn up by the Council of State, or supreme court, last month, saying not enough research had been done into the effects of the plant on the local flora and fauna.
But in a second ruling a week later, the court said building the plant in Eemshaven could continue until the provincial authorities decided what to do.
Blind eye
Now the council has decided to give the project a ‘blind eye permit’. This means Essent and RWE can continue building the power plant until a new environmental permit has been sorted out and the province will ignore the fact the permits are not in order.
RWE has already spent €2bn on the plant and a building stop would cost it €20m a month, according to provincial council official Wiebe van der Ploeg.
Environmental organisations say they will go back to the high court to fight the decision.