Reuters: Bells toll for Europe's largest gas field

Dutch church bells that for centuries have tolled to warn of floods across the low-lying countryside are sounding the alarm for a new threat: earthquakes linked to Europe's largest natural gas field.

"Money can buy a lot of things, but a building like this cannot be replaced," said Jur Bekooy, a civil engineer with the Groningen Old Churches Association, pointing to cracks in the ceiling and walls of the 13th-century Maria Church in the village of Westerwijtwerd.

Long ignored, voices like Bekooy's are being heard as elections loom this month and following a damning report from the independent Dutch Safety Board.

It accused the government and the field's operators, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp, of ignoring the threat of earthquakes linked to the massive Groningen gas field for years.

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