The little people won again. Commercial activities at Crystal Berg were stopped today by the government’s department, DIP, due to non compliance with ROP, Ruimtelijke Ordeningsplan, the zoning law, and it looks like enforcement, and legal action against offenders, on environmental and zoning issues, is the new trend. If the operators of the mine challenge the decision, a court will have to rule on the zoning infractions, i.e. the right and the obligation of the government to enforce its own policy. Our parliament, I understand, is inviting the MinInfra and DIP to explain about the excavations, in violation of ROP policies. That meeting was scheduled for Wednesday but the authorities decided to meanwhile to pull the plug, and take it from there. ROM, Ruimtelijke Ordeningsplan, the zoning law, has been a victim of much abuse. In the far past that area of Crystal Berg has been mined for construction aggregate materials. However about ten years ago, in the wake of a public outcry, companies stated importing crushed stone and sand, instead of mining it here. Then they went back to mining. I suggest a total ban on that ridiculous, the scarred landscape should be helped in the process of recovery, and all our sand and crush stones for construction, should be imported, just like anything else.

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