Dutch greens decry the expansion of Schiphol airport and jam the main runway, ready to face trial for high crime
RECENT research conducted on the
Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, has shown that a large proportion of the population living around
the airport has developed serious respiratory complaints. A higher than average number of people suffer from stress
and cardiac problems. It is suspected
that there may also be a high incidence
of cancer.
In view of this situation, Environmental activists of the Friends of the
Earth (FOE), Netherlands, took to
protesting against airport the proposed
expansion of the Schiphol by invading
the airport's runway on November 12,
1995, displaying a banner saying:
"Schiphol is big enough." As an aircraft
was about to take off, the activists lined
up arm-in-arm at the end of the runway. The control tower finally had to
ask the pilot to abandon the run.
"Environmental activists on the runway," boomed the tower. Due to this
consorted effort, the authorities
were forced to declare the runway "out
of use".
Later, the agitating greens were
arrested and ordered to appear before a
court after three months, on February
16. The FOE activists were accused by the
public prosecntor of endangering air
safety which, in the Netherlands, is considered a serious criminal
offence carrying a maximum penalty of nine
years' imprisonment.
Wijnand Duyvendak,
leader of the campaign,
said that despite numerous protests by the people,
environmental organisations and experts, the
Dutch government permitted the Schiphol airport authorities to build a
fifth runway, which within 10 years
time, will have doubled the air traffic.
And this will render the area around the
airport even more unlivable, with
heightened noise 'and air pollution.
Besides, three years ago, a cargo plane
had crashed in an Amsterdam suburb,
killing more than 40 people. Rise in
such fatal incidents is also apprehended.
Said Duyvendak, "Air traffic causes
enormous damage to the global environment. Before long, 15-20 per cent of
the Dutch contribution to the greenhouse effect will be caused by air traffic
from Schiphol. This will make Schiphol
airport the largest polluter of the next
century. The contribution to the nitrous
oxide emission - a cause of acid rain -
will also increase sharply."
According to the government's economic forecasting bureau's projections,
doubling of the airport's capacity will
create umpteen number of jobs. But
with a total investment of us $20 billion,
each job will cost us $1 million - about
10 times the average cost of creating a
job in the Netherlands, which was not
in environment friendly move, alleged
Duyvencdak.
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