Blog Categories: big oil & gas

Petition rejected – EU Commission wants to let ExxonMobil get away with climate change denial

Brussels, 20 June 2017 — Despite the evidence of the ExxonMobil’s active role in the funding of climate change deniers which has deliberately prevented far more consequent and comprehensive political efforts against climate change, the EU Commission says it does not plan to take action.

The Commission’s statement is in response to a Food & Water Europe petition from July 2016, asking Members of the European Parliament to hold ExxonMobil accountable for its climate cover-up – which will be discussed in the Petition Committee of the EU tomorrow.

There is increasing evidence that in the 1980s, and maybe even much earlier, oil and gas giant ExxonMobil knew about the existence of climate change and the role of fossil fuels. And while carefully keeping the facts to themselves, ExxonMobil started a denial campaign covering up the certainty that climate change and fossil fuel extraction are closely linked. Its former CEO Rex Tillerson is Secretary of State in the Trump administration, which announced the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on June 1.

To this day, ExxonMobil has not taken proper action and hasn’t suffered liability for its actions. Instead of acknowledging its wrongdoing, ExxonMobil continues to push for fracking projects in Europe that will cause even more methane emissions and increase global warming. Moreover, the company violates the precautionary and polluter pays principle (article 191 AEUV) and works deliberately against the fundamental rights of EU citizens (in particular article 35 of EU Charter of Fundamental Rights).

This statement from the Commission comes at a time when the same EU Commission – together with the Council of the EU – deeply regrets the unilateral decision by the United States Administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and reaffirms that the European Union and its Member States remain united and absolutely committed to full and swift implementation of the Paris Agreement.

“It’s disappointing to see that the EU Commission presents itself as a defender of the Paris Agreement while refusing to hold ExxonMobil accountable for its role in the crisis,” says Andy Gheorghiu of Food & Water Europe. “But we all know that the time for talk is over. What we need now is swift and concrete action to tackle the already visible impacts of global warming.”

Contact:

Andy Gheorghiu, Food & Water Europe, Fracking Policy Advisor, +49 5631 50 69 507 (land), +49 160 20 30 974 (mobile), agheorghiu(at)fweurope.org

Petrochemical Expansion in Europe Means More Fracking in the United States

Ineos plans to build new plant to handle more fracked gas shipped across the Atlantic

Brussels: – 14 June, 2017 — The Financial Times reports that European energy giant INEOS announced plans to build a new petrochemical plant that uses fracked gas from the United States as a feedstock for producing propylene, a raw material used in making plastics. The company relies on its new fleet of “dragon ships” to act as a virtual pipeline, shipping gas liquids across the Atlantic Ocean.

In response, Food & Water Europe executive director Wenonah Hauter issued the following statement:

“Fracking has already done terrible damage to the air and water across Ohio and Pennsylvania. Now, the suffering in these front-line communities will increase, all to serve the corporate profits of the plastics industry. This means more drilling, more pipelines, and more pollution—all to serve the interests of a massive petrochemical corporation, owned by a billionaire.

“The Ineos business model of shipping fracking gas liquids across the ocean does damage on both sides of the Atlantic. Communities in Ohio and Pennsylvania suffer the effects of fracking, while those living near the petrochemical facilities are forced to live with air pollution and the plastic litter polluting local coasts. The petrochemical plants emit massive amounts of air and climate pollutants, and Scottish environmental regulators have repeatedly cited Ineos for violating emissions standards.

“To protect the safety of communities in the United States and Europe, and to prevent the worst impacts of fossil fuel-linked climate chaos, political leaders must listen to the grassroots activists who are calling for an end to fracking everywhere.”

Contact: Andy Gheorghiu, Food & Water Europe, Fracking Policy Advisor, Food & Water Europe, +49 (0) 5631 50 69 507 (land), +49 (0) 160 20 30 974 (mobile), agheorghiu(at)fweurope.org

Fracking in Pennsylvania to Make Plastics in Scotland? New report shines light on Trans-Atlantic link between US drilling and European petrochemical manufacturing

Brussels: Monday, May 8, 2017 – A new report from Food & Water Watch and its sister organization, Food & Water Europe, traces the links between fracking and pipelines in Pennsylvania and a Scottish energy billionaire’s elaborate and dangerous plan to ship gas liquids across the Atlantic.

The report, “The Trans-Atlantic Plastics Pipeline: How Pennsylvania’s fracking boom crosses the Atlantic,” tracks how the fracking boom in the United States has spawned a resurgence in petrochemical and plastics manufacturing, which presents environmental hazards apart from those associated with drilling. Ineos, Britain’s largest privately-held company, has contracted with US-based drilling companies to supply it with ethane, a gas liquid used to make plastics. Over the last few years, the company has rolled out a fleet of ‘dragon ships’ to supply plants in Norway and Scotland, with the first shipment of shale gas arriving in late 2016. Recently it was reported that the company’s Grangemouth plant was rated as ‘poor’ by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which pointed to nine separate incidents in 2016, including several major discharges of sulphur.

“Fracking is creating a public health and climate disaster while propping the highly polluting plastics industry,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe. “People on both sides of the Atlantic are suffering the costs, with extremely detrimental effects to our global environment – everything from air pollution and climate altering emissions to the proliferation of plastic waste can be tied to the companies benefiting from this poisonous process.”

The report shows how this ‘virtual pipeline’ poses serious threats to health and public safety on both sides of the Atlantic. The Ineos export strategy will drive more fracking in Pennsylvania, with all the accompanying water and air pollution that has been well-documented over the last several years of drilling in the state. This project requires the building of an additional pipeline, Mariner East 2. Communities along the 350-mile route of the pipeline, concerned about public safety threats posed by leaks and explosions, are fighting against the pipeline’s construction through a mix of municipally-oriented strategies and nonviolent direct action tactics. And in Scotland, Ineos will be ‘cracking’ the ethane to make ethylene, an industrial process that causes air pollution and creates additional plastic litter, like the small pellets called nurdles that are littering shorelines across the United Kingdom.

Earlier this month, the Ineos petrochemical facility in Grangemouth, Scotland had a substantial ethylene leak that forced the evacuation of employees. The resurgent plastics production fueled by Pennsylvania fracked gas could put even more communities at risk of industrial accidents.

All of the companies involved in the trans-Atlantic pipeline, the report shows, have poor environmental records. The Grangemouth facility has been repeatedly cited by Scottish authorities for emissions and pollutions violations, along with workplace safety violations. Ineos CEO James Ratcliffe once likened pollution to getting a flat tire: “It is like a puncture in your car — occasionally you get a puncture and occasionally we have an accident in chemicals.” One of the drilling companies in Pennsylvania, Range Resources — perhaps best known for a water contamination incident in Texas — has been fined almost USD $21 million (€19 million) by state regulators. The company has been charged with over 500 health and safety violations between 2005 and 2016.

Sunoco, the company behind the new Mariner East pipelines, had a higher rate of oil spills than any of its competitors in the United States. It recently completed a merger with Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the highly controversial Dakota Access pipeline. Communities along the pipeline route are seeking ways to halt construction of Mariner East 2; the company eventually plans to construct an additional parallel pipeline to carry more gas liquids for export.

“It’s time to stop this absurdity once and for all. We don’t need more plastics, petrochemicals or fracked hydrocarbons. What we do need is fresh air, clear drinking water and an intact environment,” said Andy Gheorghiu, policy advisor for Food & Water Europe.

“People on both sides of the Atlantic have already started realizing that we need to act in unity, expanded over sea and land borders. And united, we will have the power to make the necessary difference and stop companies like Ineos and Sunoco from further polluting our planet. The time is right and the time is now.”

Food & Water Watch offers several recommendations to communities and political leaders both sides of the Atlantic, starting with a complete ban on fracking everywhere, a ban on fossil fuel imports, and ending fossil fuel infrastructure projects that are harming the environment and contributing to the mounting threats posed by climate change.

Contact: Andy Gheorghiu, Food & Water Europe, Fracking Policy Advisor, Food & Water Europe, +49 (0) 5631 50 69 507 (land), +49 (0) 160 20 30 974 (mobile), agheorghiu(at)fweurope.org

The Trans-Atlantic Plastics Pipeline: How Pennsylvania’s Fracking Boom Crosses the Atlantic

Categories

Food

America’s oil and gas rush is now coming to Europe, polluting both sides of the pond, contributing to climate change and threatening coastal wildlife.

Over the past decade, the U.S. fossil fuel industry has surged by employing new techniques and technologies that combine horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) to extract oil and gas from shale and other underground rock formations.

DOWNLOAD PDF VIEW ON SCRIBD

Fracking causes many negative public health and environmental impacts and injects large quantities of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to release oil or gas tightly held in rock layers.

European countries must protect the environment and public health and reject America’s headlong rush to fracking and cracking pollution and environmental damage.

Leak at Scottish Gas Plant Linked to Pennsylvania Fracking

Brussels/Washington, 3 May 2017 – Fracked gas from Pennsylvania has caused a public health scare in Scotland — more proof that the fight against dangerous drilling must be global.

At around noon local time on May 2, reports emerged of a major pipeline leak inside the Kinneil Gas plant in Grangemouth. The facility is owned by a company called Ineos, which has pioneered the use of so-called “dragon ships” to carry gas liquids like ethane and butane from Pennsylvania across the Atlantic Ocean to be used in plastics manufacturing.

Ineos is owned by anti-union billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who calls these massive ships a “virtual pipeline.” His profiteering poses a threat to public safety in Pennsylvania by driving more fracking across a state already devastated by drilling. And it poses serious threats in Scotland too, as this incident makes clear.

While it is too early to determine the magnitude of this gas leak, powerful players in the United States — from the White House to the Energy Department to the office of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf–are pushing policies that will result in more drilling to serve the plastics industry. If they get their way, there will be more such disasters to come.

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe: “The leak at Grangemouth is a serious concern because it reminds us of the risks and recurrent incidents associated with our continuing corporate-directed reliance on fossil fuels. INEOS has pioneered transatlantic gas liquids shipments from Pennsylvania, which means more fracking and pollution in the United States and more plastics manufacturing pollution in Scotland. And all of that drilling brings us closer to climate chaos, which is why the fight against fracking must be global.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Contact: Andy Gheorghiu, Food & Water Europe, Fracking Policy Advisor, Food & Water Europe, +49 (0) 5631 50 69 507 (land), +49 (0) 160 20 30 974

No EU Money for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline

Statement by Food & Water Europe

 “We express our solidarity with the people from Melendugno and Salento regions of Italy as well as the No TAP committee who oppose the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. The destruction of farmland, sensitive environmental sites and areas of importance for tourism makes the TAP a threat for communities not only in Italy but also in Greece and Albania.

“This project should not be considered a Project of Common Interest (PCI) and should not continue getting financial support with EU taxpayers’ money, nor should it enjoy further advantages of being a PCI.

“The EU cannot consider the TAP as a priority for energy security while EU gas demand is declining and the European gas infrastructure is already largely resistant to extreme disruption scenarios.

“European greenhouse gas emissions will need to be reduced by 80-95% by 2050 so carrying out this costly project that will remain there for decades is nonsense. It is not in the interest of Europeans to investing billions in a pipeline that clearly risks becoming a stranded asset.

“We need investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in line with European climate targets. Finally, limited public funds should not go into a pipeline that is supposed to bring gas from Azerbaijan, an authoritarian regime struck by corruption, to Europe, that urgently needs to phase out the use of fossil fuels.”