The State Council’s ruling hangs over Osterweil like the sword of Damocles.

the council by state It will soon be pronounced on the so-called declaration of conformity to the so-called idiomatic Defeated And the associated earth is moving at the Oosterweel Works. Behind this technical description lies a fundamentally simple question: Did the Flemish government deliberately circumvent its own regulations and extract hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of soil heavily contaminated with PFAS in order to build the Oosterweel connection at all costs?

If the Council of State follows its auditor’s report, the Flemish government and the client will agree. Lantis Backtracking again. This first happened when it emerged that political leaders had deliberately failed to communicate for years about PFAS contamination in Zwijndrecht in order not to jeopardize the planned Oosterweel works. This was followed by the suspension of two works by the Council of State.

The legal war over PFAS and Oosterweel is raging on several fronts, but the Council of State’s ruling will be decisive

also 3Mthe company that is the root cause of historical pollution with Chemical foreveris now on a collision course with Lantis. It was announced last month that Lantis had filed a lawsuit against the chemical company in corporate court because 3M would not meet its obligations under the restructuring agreement between the two parties.

In contrast, 3M asked the State Council to make a so-called site decision. PFAS 3M – Zwijndrecht To destroy. With this decision, the Flemish government said it would address the PFAS problem in the area around the 3M plant in Zwijndrecht. But not everyone is happy with the approach.

The legal battle is raging on various fronts, but the Council of State’s ruling will be particularly decisive. The country’s highest administrative court’s annulment of the regulations on soil transport means that the massive excavation work for the Oosterweel connection was carried out illegally.

illegal soil moving

If contaminated land is illegally transported and dumped by Lantis, what are the consequences? In the article Oosterweel is at risk of sinking into legal quicksand. Apache outlined the potential impacts of canceling the earthmoving plan last fall.

It all revolves around the historical contamination of sites in and around the 3M factory in Zwijndrecht with PFAS. The municipality is known worldwide as a PFAS hotspot. Historical contamination from the factory sites has seeped into the sites where Lantis has built its “Century Square” in recent years. In particular, during the construction of the Scheldt Tunnel, the key part of the Osterweil connection, the client moved huge amounts of highly contaminated soil.

While creating the Oosterweel Link, Lantis stirred up massive amounts of highly contaminated soil.

PFAS Whistleblowers Thomas Jordan Other working groups have appealed to the State Council to stop the work. The State Council has responded to this question twice. The health of local residents cannot be sufficiently guaranteed.

In addition, the State Council must also make an objective assessment of the arrangements for the giant earthmoving project. Last fall it became known that the auditor’s report left no stone unturned in the arguments Lantis put on the table in defense of the earthmoving project.

When the damning report was leaked via Apache, a legal stunt ensued: Lantis and the Flemish government tried to withdraw from the pending case to avoid a final judgment. They did so with the main argument that the regulation on soil transport would in fact have become meaningless since a new regulatory framework would now be in force: the famous regulatory framework Interim Framework.

who Interim Framework It is an attempt by the outgoing Flemish Environment Minister. Saturn Damir (N-VA) to provide clarity on how to deal with PFAS contamination. This resulted in the release of a technical document that essentially sets out the criteria and conditions for dealing with soil containing PFAS. Interesting details: This also Interim Framework It is submitted to the State Council for cancellation.

However, Lanthes and the Flemish government were explicit in their request to withdraw from the pending case. Since then, the final ruling has been awaited. It could happen today (12/7).

A principle invented by Lantis himself.

The auditor put several arguments on the table in his report. Crucial in this regard is the abuse of the so-called standstill principle by Lantis to set aside existing regulations. In short, Lantis assumes that the famous standstill principle is respected because the excavated contaminated soil remains on site.

According to Lantis, once the contaminated soil is moved within the yard, nothing fundamentally changes the overall picture of contamination, and so there will be a “complete standstill.” The auditor rejects this reasoning. It has nothing to do with the principle of real freezing. The auditor therefore speaks of “the principle of stopping that Lantis invented for this occasion.”

Lantis itself is said to have created additional PFAS contamination through massive drilling operations in highly contaminated terrain.

What makes the whole problem even more interesting is that Franken Expert Committee He explicitly argued that Lanthes would invoke the principle of total stoppage as a basis for the controversial excavation works. However, the Flemish government appointed a committee of experts to monitor the environmental and health impact of the Oosterweil works. But according to the hearing officer’s reasoning, it did not do so.

If the Council of State follows the auditor’s judgment and arguments, it will show for the thousandth time in the uploaded file how the Flemish government, by setting up an expert committee, circumvented its own regulations to proceed with the Osterweel works.

Even with the potential destruction, the final word has not yet been said on the additional consequences of that. After all, the destruction would mean that Lantis itself has created additional pollution by carrying out massive excavation work in highly contaminated terrain.

In this case, Lantis — read: taxpayers — and not 3M could be held ultimately responsible for (part of) the massive PFAS contamination and associated cleanup operations that could cost tens, if not hundreds of millions of euros.

In this case, the reckless approach taken by the Flemish government and Lanthes would not only have put the health of the local population at risk, but would also have (partly) passed the bill from 3M to the taxpayers.

illegally occupied territories

Another question is what the consequences will be if work that has already been done is reversed. In recent years, huge amounts of PFAS-contaminated soil have disappeared under the asphalt.

When Lantis tried to withdraw from the case before the Flemish Council of State, real estate Bank An order to withdraw drilling licenses. In this way, the case will end without purpose and a potentially devastating judgment will be avoided.

In recent years, massive amounts of PFAS-contaminated soil have disappeared under asphalt.

But because of the controversy Technical reports To pull out, a new problem arose. In the absence of specific regulations regarding soil transportation, the broader Waste Act was applied from that moment on. According to this legislation, the giant landfill that Lantis was moving was nothing more than the creation of a giant landfill filled with PFAS waste. Environmental inspection Therefore, he had no choice but to write a report on the matter and refer it to the Public Prosecution.

What’s interesting: When Apache contacted Lantis last fall about the article about the auditor’s report, Oosterweel’s client was formal: The choice to withdraw from the proceedings was not based on the content of the initial auditor’s report. When Apache asked the question again in response to another article, Lantis suddenly admitted that the auditor’s report played a role in the withdrawal.

A possible negative ruling by the Council of State would set a huge precedent for soil transport throughout Flanders, Lantis said at the time. Policymakers wanted to avoid that. “The distance by Lantis from Technical reports “This is also partly inspired by this higher political interest (to avoid soil movement in Flanders becoming impossible under the current arrangement),” Lantis said.

In any case, the creation of a huge landfill is permitted as a result of the withdrawal from a long list of illegal or unlawful measures taken by the government: the conscious silence about PFAS contamination around 3M, the illegal application of legislation on soil transport that led to it being suspended twice by the State Council, and a series of reform rules and other measures designed specifically for Lantis that are often tangled.

The question is primarily how to serve. Mandatory We will respond if the Council of State issues a devastating verdict on Lanthes and the Flemish government. Will there be new steps to ensure that the construction of the “system of the century” is not jeopardized, or will the Flemish government – ​​through the enforcement service – finally take action against the consequences of the mismanagement it has created itself?

Political consequences

In recent years, the Flemish government and Lanthes have made one mistake after another to cover up the problems inherent in creating a huge construction site in the heart of a PFAS hotspot.

Time and again, encouraged by his political steering committee, Lantis has sought creative interpretations of the law so that he can build on the Oosterweil connection, regardless of the potential risks to the environment and public health. Or like the mayor of Antwerp Bart the Wafer (N-VA) itself said at the time: “The project must be realized no matter what.”

Will the opposition in Antwerp put the badly managed dossier on the table in the run-up to October 13?

By drowning the entire file in technical details and thanks to expensive PR campaigns, the Flemish government has managed to sidestep the hot issue in recent years. In the run-up to the Flemish elections on June 9, not a single word was said about Osterweel.

But there are also municipal elections coming up. The Lantis political steering committee unequivocally bears the stamp of Antwerp N-VA. Will the opposition put the mishandled dossier on the table in the run-up to October 13?

In addition, a criminal complaint was also filed at that time. It is currently unclear what the public prosecutor’s office will do about this, but the complaint itself is clear: complicity of officials. Did civil servants at various levels – who were urged to do so by their political superiors – commit illegal acts in order to evade the applicable legislation in order to proceed with the Oosterweel connection?

Finally, the legal tug-of-war between 3M and Lantis is also playing out in the background. The original collaboration, announced deals, and restructuring agreements have given way to mutual legal action.

Especially since 3M’s decision to stop producing PFAS, the US chemical giant has little to lose in Flanders and will do everything it can to pass the bill to clean up the historic pollution. If the Council of State once again confirms the government’s mistake in the file, there is a risk that something will happen where the environmental expert Isabelle Larmosso It has been warned for some time: taxpayers will be screwed.