This is not about shale gas but about conventional gas: the huge gas field in the northern Dutch province Groningen. See here a very good infographic of the story:

View infographic by Kor Dwarshuis

A joint venture of Shell and Exxon (NAM) has exploited this field for many years, starting in the sixties. Form the eighties onwards, this resulted in an increasing number of earthquakes with increasing magnitude. In spite of that exploitation of the field continued full speed.

Thousands of homes have been damaged by these quakes, and still there is no consensus in the parliament to decrease gas extraction substantially, and to force Shell/Exxon to pay for the damage as they should, and to pay for appropriate safety measures.

The main reason is the money flowing the the state and shareholders of these companies. This is the political reality in the Netherlands. A reality which we have to cope with our protests against shale gas.

During the debate today in parliament the earth under Groningen shook again.

Best regards
Ko van Huissteden, Shale Gas Free Netherlands board member, and associate professor in Earth Sciences in Amsterdam