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Equal misery, equal money: Groningen’s tenants can finally claim Shell-quake mental-health damages too

Sep 10th, 2025
by admin.

Groningen’s long-suffering renters, resident kids, and unmarried partners have just been upgraded from second-class victims to full members of the Earthquake Club. The Mining Damage Institute Groningen (IMG) now treats non-homeowners the same as homeowners when awarding compensation for mental anguish caused by the man-made quakes from gas extraction. Or, as IMG itself put it: “The rationale behind this expansion is that non-homeowners can experience the same degree of suffering and grief as homeowners.” 

What changed (and why it matters

  • Parity at last: IMG says applications for immaterial (mental-health) damages from tenants, cohabiting partners, and resident children will now be judged on the same basis as owner-occupiers. Pending cases will be assessed under the new rules; earlier decisions can be revisited via a follow-up application. Maximum award remains €5,000 per person. 

  • The official logic: IMG dropped the old rule that counted tenants’ “building-damage” and claim-duration factors at half-strength. Translation: grief is grief, even if your name isn’t on the deed.  

Quick primer: how Shell’s JV made “man-made” a Dutch word for earthquake

Meet NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij), the Shell-ExxonMobil joint venture that operated the Groningen gas field since the 1960s. The field was discovered in 1959; production began in 1963; induced quakes followed—and multiplied—as pressure dropped. The Dutch state’s geology portal says it plainly: NAM is the Shell–Exxon joint venture that operates Groningen. 

The Dutch Safety Board’s 2015 verdict should be engraved on the office wall of every energy minister: “Until the beginning of 2013, the safety of citizens in Groningen in relation to induced earthquakes had no influence on decision-making on the exploitation of the Groningen gas field.” Reuters’ headline version was even blunter: Shell, Exxon, and the Dutch government “ignored the danger of earthquakes … for decades.” Related links A B

Courts and compensation milestones (aka NAM’s greatest hits)

  • Property value loss—pay up: In 2015, the District Court in Assen held that NAM must compensate homeowners for value decline due to the quake risk—even if the house hasn’t been sold yet. That line of reasoning has stood up on appeal. (ECLI:NL:RBNNE:2015:4185). Related links A B

  • Immaterial damages—who’s eligible: Adults could claim from 2021; children and teens were added in 2023; now non-owners have full parity. Policy-by-policy, Groningen’s reality forced the bureaucracy to admit the obvious. A B

Follow the money (and the moral)

The Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (2023) concluded that “the Netherlands owes Groningen a debt of honour” because residents’ interests were “structurally ignored.” AP summarized the scandal’s scale: decades of extraction brought the state €363 billion, while locals got stress, scaffolding and sleepless nights. See links A B C

Meanwhile, the ultimate sin stock keeps respectable company. Among Shell’s biggest institutional investors are BlackRock and Vanguard—stewards of global capital who can move mountains (ideally not the ones under Groningen). 

So what should renters and other non-owners do now

  • If you already applied and got less than the max: You can file a follow-up application if your previous decision is ≥ 6 months old.

  • If your case is pending: No action needed—IMG says it will automatically apply the new rules.

  • If you never applied: You can apply now under the equal-treatment policy. Start with IMG’s info pages. 

Source documents & further reading (linkable, citable, stubbornly real)

The part where we state the obvious, loudly

Shell helped build the problem through NAM, the state waved it along, and Groningen shook—literally. Years later, after reports, inquiries, court rulings, and the odd apology, the government apparatus finally noticed that tenants and kids feel fear just as acutely as mortgage-holders. Progress! Now, about those cracked homes, depreciated streets, and nervous systems.

Disclaimer

Warning: satire ahead. The criticisms are pointed, the humour intentional, and the facts stubbornly real. Quotes are reproduced word-for-word from trusted sources. As for authorship—John Donovan and AI both claim credit, but the jury’s still out on who was really in charge.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

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