Government crackdown expected on soil transporters: Strict oversight after three years of government ignoring warnings
The DR website recently published an article about a case in which the Danish Ministry of the Environment ignored warnings about soil transport problems for three years despite official recommendations.
An investigation by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) revealed that the Danish Ministry of the Environment ignored for three years official recommendations that could have solved a number of serious problems related to soil transport, an issue that has sparked widespread controversy in recent years due to the resulting environmental damage, suspicions of corruption, and health concerns.
In November 2021, the Danish government received clear recommendations from the EU Business Regulation Forum (Regelforum) – an independent body under the Ministry of Industry that includes representatives from the business sector, trade unions, and civil society organizations – calling for simplifying regulations on soil transport, strengthening controls, and requiring all transported soil to be analyzed and its source and destination documented. The recommendations also included setting precise limits for the level of pollutants, such as hydrocarbons, to classify soil as clean or contaminated.
Despite the Danish government's obligation – under the laws – to either implement the Regelforum recommendations or provide public explanations for its rejection, the Ministry of the Environment did nothing for three years, from 2021 to 2024. It was revealed through requests for access to information, submitted by DR in October 2024, that no study was conducted within the Ministry on those recommendations during that period.
Soil transport scandals stir public opinion
This neglect came at a time when alarming issues of soil mismanagement were surfacing, including a landslide at Nordic Waste, allegations of soil malpractice revealed in the TV2 documentary "Black Swan," and the discovery of construction waste-contaminated soil on agricultural land, as happened in a village. Kajirob In northern Zealand, soil levels in some fields have risen by more than five meters according to official measurements.
A scathing critique of the ministry and an admission of error.
These events prompted sharp criticism of the Ministry of the Environment from politicians and environmental experts. They considered the disregard for the recommendations a dereliction of duty and an implicit contribution to the worsening of the problem. Niels Bockholt, head of the Waste and Resources Secretariat at the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), and also a member of Regelforum, said: “If these recommendations had been implemented since 2021, it would have been much more difficult to manipulate soil transport. Not all the issues would have been resolved, but they would have been significantly reduced.”.
For her part, Lisløt Toft, Director General of the Danske Vandværker water conservation organization, criticized the ministry's lack of response to their repeated warnings and expressed concern about the potential for pollutants to seep into groundwater sources due to the transport of contaminated soil near drinking wells. She stated:
“It is unfortunate that the Ministry of Environment did not take these extremely important recommendations seriously.”.
The ministry's response and delayed action
In October 2024, after the DR requested relevant documentation, the ministry reported that no analyses or documents pertaining to the recommendations existed. However, the very next day saw a surprising move: an internal body was commissioned to conduct an evaluation study of the recommendations. According to the ministry's subsequent response, this study demonstrated that the recommendations were indeed "capable of contributing to the resolution of some of the existing challenges in the field of soil transport.".
Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke, who took office in December 2022, acknowledged the shortcomings and stressed that the issue had not been taken seriously enough. He told DR: “This problem should have been addressed a long time ago. When clear recommendations come in, even from within the industry itself, they should be welcomed and acted upon immediately. We have delayed, and that is not good enough.”.
Promises to take action before summer
Heunicke announced that his ministry is currently working on a “booklet of proposals” that includes a number of new legislative and regulatory measures, including the Regelforum recommendations on soil control, which is to be revealed before the summer of 2025.
The minister added: “Yes, we didn’t take the matter seriously at the time. That’s clear. If we had, we wouldn’t be in this situation today,” according to DR.
