Porthos does not expect any delays due to provisional advice EIA Commission

In its provisional advice, the Commission for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has indicated that it is of the opinion that several points of the EIA for Porthos are incomplete. Porthos is the Rotterdam project for CO2 transport and storage. The Porthos project organisation and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate have promised the EIA Commission to submit supplementary information within two weeks, which the Commission can include in its final assessment of the EIA. Given the subjects concerned, the project organisation does not expect any consequences for the progress of the project.

The EIA Commission recommends that an overview be included of the bandwidth of the indirect emissions released when CO2 is captured. Additionally, the Commission indicates that the effects on the surrounding nature areas due to nitrogen deposition are possibly underestimated and asks for an explanation that the construction of the compressor station does not have any effect on protected species in the utilisation phase. Porthos has also been asked for further details on archeologically valuable locations at the sites of the pipeline route at sea. Before Christmas, the project organisation will provide this information as a supplement to the EIA. It will do so in consultation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, which is preparing an integration plan for the Porthos project. The project organisation does not expect any delays in the process of granting permits.

The EIA Commission has not only included several questions and recommendations in its provisional advice but also makes a number of compliments. For instance, in the EIA it is ‘(…) substantiated why CCS plays a major role in achieving the climate objectives (…),’ and ‘the role of CCS in the transition to a blue and green hydrogen economy is made very clear.’ The EIA Commission also says that in general, the report ‘(…) is methodically well-structured and very readable.’