Dutch leader pledges to repay debt to quake-hit region

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has apologized to residents of the northern province of Groningen who have suffered for years from earthquakes caused by gas extraction that damaged thousands of homes and ruined lives. Rutte’s apology Tuesday and a pledge to fund a generation-long program to revitalize the remote region came as his government published its official reaction to a damning parliamentary commission report issued in February that said the government owed the Groningen region a “debt of honor” after putting gas profits before people for decades. The government pledged to end all gas extraction — which has already been scaled back to almost nothing — by October, or by 2024 at the latest.