The list of the top 100 ammonia producers published by LNV and corrected on Tuesday is once again causing unrest. According to BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), the list is wrong. It has also been received with surprise in several cities in the country.

According to the BBB, the list contains serious errors. Although companies with very high ammonia emissions have disappeared from the top 100, most of the list appears to have higher emissions after adjustment than the original. The party maintains that comparisons of licensed spaces in the province of Gelderland and the top 100 list do not yield comparable emissions anywhere.

The largest emitter at Druten had 31,732 kilos of ammonia emissions, according to a list provided by nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal. Meanwhile, according to the permit system, the emission is only 17,515 kilos.

‘It is now theoretically possible that this one individual company has received a new license on a temporary basis. After all, the top 100 are from 2019, meanwhile, for example, just a few hundred pig farms have stopped,’ argues the BBB. ‘But every company we compare in that way has much lower emissions in its system. And since 2019, almost no new permits have been issued, given all the statutory and nitrogen-related issues.’

Bell round gives the same picture

The farmer also claims to have made a phone call to the municipality, which will produce the same picture. The amount is not recognized and the company on the list with such emissions does not exist. ‘In addition, of the first fifty farms, no less than seventeen have higher emissions than according to the first list.’

‘At the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, they clearly don’t know what they are doing’, concludes the BBB. ‘And the minister is blind to these kinds of bodies. In fact, the practical knowledge of estimating that the list is not correct is at all lacking. The BBB wants to open and remove the bedrock. It seems that too many emissions are attributable to livestock.’

Not a valid statement

Alderman Jan Pieter van der Schans (CDA) of the municipality of Ede was less sure, but said he could not find a valid explanation for the numbers on the list. ‘If I look at the largest nitrogen-producing company in Ede, I get a much lower number of licensed kilograms than the company with the highest listing in the top 100.’ The company was on the list for 29,000 kilos, but according to Van der Schans, the largest company in his municipality still took out less than half.

Council members have since been in contact with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. ‘I want to compare information and know how they calculate. It’s cool to compile the top 100, but the data has to be correct. The whole nitrogen discussion has been polarized, so let’s discuss it with the right data.’

A ministry spokesman said he had also received a signal about a possible error in the list, but he did not yet have an answer. RIVM has also seen the signal and has announced that they will be ‘working with them’.