"The ground under new barracks Vlissingen severely polluted"

The land under the new location of the Vlissingen naval barracks is seriously polluted. There would have been toxins like cyanide, arsenic and benzene. This is evident from confidential documents from the Department of Defense, writing a research website Follow the Money (FTM) and EenVandaag .

The Department of Defense has known this for years, but has not reported it to the House of Representatives. The navies are not informed either. The unveiling ensures that the planned relocation of the Doorn Marine Corps to Zeeland will again be under pressure. Many marines do not want to move, many have left the company for this reason.

See also: What should the Marine Corps do in Zeeland

An illegal landfill

The land at the planned marine site has been used for years as an illegal landfill. For example, containers of phosphorus, metals and other wastes have been deposited. From 1997 to 2016, several soil studies were conducted in which PAHs, PBc, bromine, fluorine, cyanide, arsenic, phenol, benzene, mercury, lead and nickel were been encountered. In addition, very high concentrations of asbestos and mineral oil were found.

Groundwater is also severely polluted. In March 2016, the Regional Anti-Fraud Service (RUD) of Zeeland warned that it was forbidden to extract groundwater "for consumption, irrigation or water". other purposes ", FTM . There are also unexploded World War II explosives scattered around the site.

This autumn the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (RGB) wants to start clearing the land. According to FTM Vlissingen and the province of Zeeland transfer the bill to the Defense. The Department of Defense has not yet responded to NRC questions on this issue.