During the day, we drive at a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour in the Netherlands, says Van der Wal, Minister of Nature and Nitrogen. The company does not intend to change that, a judge in Haarlem announced last Friday that lowering the speed limit on the highway from 130 kilometers per hour to 100 kilometers per hour can no longer be used to generate more nitrogen elsewhere. to deliver.
According to Van der Wal, it remains “necessary” that nature maintains its pace at 100 throughout the day. “We don’t use it legally anymore, but it does a lot for nature.”
At the announcement in November 2019, Rutte called the measure a real “rotten measure”, which he was “very disappointed” about. But the cabinet had to introduce the measure, among other things, to allow housing construction to continue. The speed measurement has created the so-called ‘nitrogen field’ and governments have so far given the green light to nearly 33,000 households.
But due to the judge’s ruling last week, this nitrogen space is no longer sufficient. This made the future of permits for tens of thousands of homes uncertain and complicated the company’s enormous task of solving the housing shortage.
“Fully electric driving”
Earlier this month, Van der Wal expressed skepticism about the legal sustainability of the nitrogen gain due to the low speed. This gain is difficult to determine because the number of cars on the road is not always the same, for example during the corona crisis.
Also, not all nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas benefited from this measure. In some of these nature reserves, nitrogen precipitation is actually increasing, as drivers sometimes use other roads approaching sensitive areas.
Nevertheless, Van der Wal believes that low speed in general ‘does something for nature’. Reducing the top speed to 100 km/h at night is not necessary, but returning to 130 km/h during the day “isn’t an option for now,” he says. “We have to justify it and we really can’t.”
According to him, the company is working hard on solutions for the complex nitrogen crisis. According to the Minister of Nature, it could be years before we can really do everything again. And acceleration again? Van der Wal thinks it’s possible again if we all drive electrically.
Source: NOS
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