On 4 June 2024, five Dutch and German Greenpeace activists staged an eight-hour occupation of a ONE-Dyas offshore gas rig, protesting the platform’s environmental impact. They were supported by 16 additional activists at sea.
While the Greenpeace protest was underway, the Dutch Council of State issued a ruling requiring ONE-Dyas to temporarily halt operations on the North Sea gas rig. This decision came after Greenpeace Netherlands and Deutsche Umwelthilfe filed a request on the previous Friday for an interim measure to prevent construction activities. The environmental groups argued that such activities should cease, at least until the Council of State considers their appeal against a previous decision made by the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and Climate. This decision again permitted ONE-Dyas to set up the gas drilling platform immediately.
On 1 June 2022, the Secretary of State granted ONE-Dyas an environmental permit to establish and operate the gas drilling platform. As per the terms of the permit, legitimate activities include activities that may affect ecosystems and nature areas. Previously, Deutsche Umwelthilfe had successfully appealed against the permit when on 18 April 2024, the District Court of the Hague annulled the permit. However, the Secretary of State then issued the 29 May 2024 permit that is now being disputed. In particular, the requesting parties feared that nitrogen deposition from ship traffic resulting from the gas rig works would negatively impact Natura 2000 areas.
The Council of State granted a preliminary injunction, which means that the 29 May 2024 permit is now temporarily suspended, pending a full hearing to be held in the week of 10 June 2024. This legal victory aligned with the goals of the Greenpeace activists, and they left the rig accordingly.
Greenpeace also published an open letter to the European Union and its Member States, asking them to ban all new fossil fuel projects in the European Union, to stop public investment in fossil fuel projects, and to phase out fossil fuels by 2035. Greenpeace argues that “Europe’s over-reliance on fossil gas leads to rising energy bills, sickness, deaths, destruction of nature, and climate chaos”.
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