Is the Porthos project safe for the environment?

During the preparation of the Porthos project, extensive and detailed research was carried out on various environmental aspects and impacts of the transport network. The results were described in the environmental impact report (EIR). Royal HaskoningDHV wrote a public summary of the EIR on the Porthos infrastructure, which is publicly available.
The effects in the construction and use phase are zero or very limited. In addition, we work with sustainable (electric) materials wherever possible during network construction.

Construction phase
During the onshore construction of the Porthos pipeline, the soil quality actually improves because any soil contamination is remediated. During construction on land, at sea and the realisation of the compressor station, nitrogen is released from traffic, working equipment and shipping movements. Measures will be taken to limit the amount of nitrogen released. The Porthos infrastructure will not result in damage to the natural features of Natura 2000 areas. The Nature Conservation Act will be carefully taken into account throughout the entire realisation process. As the infrastructure will be constructed almost entirely underground, there will be no landscape changes. The flora and fauna will therefore only be slightly disturbed for a very short time at most, during the implementation work at the site. Underwater drilling, piping and dredging will temporarily cause some noise nuisance for marine animals. There are sufficient escape routes for these animals and sufficient suitable habitat is available.

Operation phase
The pipeline has no environmental impact in the use phase. To ensure optimum safety, no houses can be built in the so-called risk contour. This also applies to the compressor station: from a safety perspective, no houses can be built in the immediate vicinity here either.

Final phase
After the 15-year use phase, the pipelines are shut off and left in the ground. The gathering pipeline and compressor station has more capacity than Porthos itself uses. There is therefore room for subsequent CCS projects. When further use is no longer possible, the compressor station will be removed, with environmental impacts similar to those in the construction phase.