December 1, 2009

After forced closure, De Heus resumes operations

Dutch Feed miller De Heus was granted permission to resume production at its Ravenstein location after the regional government halted its operations.

The regional government of the North Brabant Province in the Netherlands was overruled by the Council of State in its decision to stop feed manufacturing of De Heus.

The Council said the Province was not allowed to stop production at the mill although the maximum allowed volume of feed laid down in an environmental permit had exceeded.

De Heus' application for a new environmental permit, with a higher production maximum, which was to be expected soon was the main reason for the resumption of the operation.

Earlier on, the new licence with a doubled production maximum was not granted by the State Council, because the Province has not followed stricter rules on odour emissions.

For this reason De Heus still was running its mill on the old licence dating from 1986 with a lower allowed production level, which was already exceeded this year.

The Province wanted to force De Heus to stop producing due to numerous complaints on the mill.

The State Council, however, argued that De Heus rightly opposed the Provincial decree, because a new environmental licence was in sight.