The diocese of Groningen takes sides with the citizens to ask the political parties to have consistent programmes and clear decisions about gas extraction operations. The region is home to Europe’s largest gas field from which the country has been deriving huge energy and profits since 1959. “Not money but safety and accident prevention must be the most important factors in Groningen” and should be the key factors in the definition of a gas extraction programme, as stated in a petition filed by the citizens with the support of local authorities, associations and churches. “The current level” is not reassuring in an area that the previous gas extraction operations have made seismic, so they ask for an “extraction-reducing plan to be started in 2018” that actually reduces the seismic risk. The appeal asks that such points, which all parties agree upon now that the election campaign is under way, be included in the new government’s programme, since the problem of gas is a “national matter”. Only then can the region’s residents feel safe again. The petition also asks to enforce clear measures to contain the accidents that are caused by frequent seismic shocks and measures for residential housing, as well as more national investments in energy transition.