Brussels — On March 21, the EU Parliament held the first ever public hearing on climate change denial addressing the special role ExxonMobil played in its decades-long campaign to distort the truth about global warming. The impetus for this hearing was a petition submitted by Food & Water Europe urging the Parliament to act on the case.
ExxonMobil was invited to attend the hearing and give parliamentarians an opportunity to publicaly answer questions about misleading the public, but the multinational fossil fuel giant refused the invitation. Instead, ExxonMobil sent the organizers of the hearing a private letter attempting to discredit one of the expert witnesses, MIT and Harvard researcher Dr. Geoffrey Supran, using a non-peer-reviewed report commissioned and paid for by ExxonMobil.
Reacting to this, more than 100 Brussels and international NGOs and organizations submitted an open letter heavily criticizing ExxonMobil’s behavior and calling on parliamentarians to revoke the fossil fuel corporation’s direct access to the EU Parliament.
Madrid, Bruselas — Treinta y tres eurodiputadas y eurodiputados de seis grupos políticos y once países han remitido hoy una carta [1] al Gobierno español y castellanoleonés para pedir la paralización del proyecto para construir una macrogranja con más de 23.000 vacas en la provincia de Soria [2]. Si este proyecto se lleva a cabo, sería la mayor granja lechera de la Unión Europea y abriría las puertas a un modelo de ganadería industrial importado de EE.UU. que no tiene cabida en Europa.
Una coalición de asociaciones ecologistas, movimientos locales y sindicatos agrarios [3] se opone a este proyecto por sus potenciales impactos sobre la economía rural, el medio ambiente, la población, la calidad del aire y del agua de la zona y el impacto global de la ganadería industrial en el cambio climático.
David Sánchez, portavoz de Food & Water Europe afirmó: “Los gobiernos central y autonómico no pueden permitir que este modelo de ganadería industrial llegue a Europa. Sus impactos en EEUU están ya más que documentados, no ayuda a las zonas rurales y no tiene nada que ver con el modelo de agricultura y alimentación que demandan las personas consumidoras”.
Florent Marcellesi, eurodiputado y firmante de la carta afirmó: “La UE no puede seguir permitiendo la preocupante proliferación de macrogranjas como la de Noviercas que además de convertir a España en el estercolero de Europa, destruyen empleos, nuestra salud, el medio ambiente, el clima y las oportunidades en el mundo rural. Ya hemos llevado esta batalla a Bruselas y desde aquí seguimos trabajando para que la UE apueste cuanto antes por un modelo agroalimentario sostenible, saludable, respetuoso con los animales y que contribuya al desarrollo del mundo rural”
Notas
[1] La carta y el listado de firmantes está disponible aquí.
[2] Más información sobre el Proyecto está disponible en:
Madrid, Brussels, February 27th 2019 — Thirty-three MEPs from six different political groups and 11 countries endorsed a letter [1] sent today to Spanish national and regional governments urging them to stop a projected factory farm that would house more than 23,000 dairy cows [2]. It would be the biggest dairy farm in the European Union and opens the doors to a factory farm model imported from the US that has no place in Europe.
A coalition of environmental NGOs, local organisations and farmers [3] is opposing this project for its potential impacts on rural economies, the environment, local communities, water and air quality, as well as the global impact of factory farming on climate change.
David Sánchez, campaigner at Food & Water Europe, said: “The Spanish and regional governments shouldn’t allow this factory farm model to be imported from the United States into Europe. Its severe impacts in the US are well documented: it doesn’t help rural communities and it has nothing to do with the model of farming that citizens demand in Europe.”
Florent Marcellesi, Member of the European Parliament and co-signatory of the letter, said: “The EU must stop turning a blind eye on the worrying spread of mega factory farms like the one in Noviercas. This kind of factory farming is making Spain become Europe’s dump while it destroys employment, our health, the environment, the climate and the opportunities in the rural areas. We already brought this fight to Brussels and from here we’ll keep on working to ensure the EU turns as soon as possible to sustainable and healthy farming, which respects animal welfare and contributes to the development of rural areas.”
Notes
[1] The letter and the list of signatories can be found here in Spanish and English.
[2] More information about the project can be found here in:
[3] The coalition includes, among others, Greenpeace Spain, Friends of the Earth Spain, Ecologistas en Acción, Food & Water Europe and farmers’ union COAG.
COMMUNITIES FROM SIX CONTINENTS TAKE ACTION AGAINST GAS AND FRACKING
On and around October 13th, over 90 groups from six continents came together in a united fight against the gas, fracking and plastics/petrochemicals industry for the Global Gasdown-Frackdown Day of Action.
Over a thousand people took action across North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
On and around October 13th, communities across the world united to take action, demanding a fossil-free future and real solutions.
Quotes
Osazee Prince Edigin, from ASEC in Nigeria, says “Our connection to the global movement is to signal our government, the multinationals and their collaborators that our struggle to end gas and fracking and the need for transition to clean and renewable sources of energy is a global movement that is not peculiar to Nigeria. It will vibrate louder and stronger.”
“Having a global Gasdown-Frackdown shows we’re not alone. That other people as well are putting up a fight for what they love- be it their land, water, health or the climate. And that’s always encouraging” says a spokesperson from NoTAP Belgium, protesting against TAP a planned mega pipeline carrying gas from Azerbaijan to the EU.
One of the actions that took place was an event informing about socio-environmental impacts of fracking in Monterrey, Mexico. Teresa Garza, from Movimiento en Defensa de la Madre Tierra y de la Vida says: “I’ve seen the reaction of those who find out what fracking is and what it means. It is impossible to be indifferent. I think information is a good first step to fight against this horrid activity.”
In Brussels, several environmental NGOs met to show unity against gas. “The recently published IPCC report shows the urgency of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees and the need to phase out all fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas. We can’t afford to keep burning gas if we want to preserve a planet liveable for future generations. This action day, uniting different struggles across the world is a strong sign of resistance and hope”, says Frida Kieninger from Food & Water Europe.
Ineos CEO Jim Ratcliffe wants to frack the UK to build his polluting plastics empire
Washington, D.C. and Brussels – The owner of chemical giant Ineos, who has been leading the charge to expand the environmentally destructive practice of fracking to the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, is reportedly planning to move to the tax haven of Monaco.
Ineos’ billionaire CEO Jim Ratcliffe—named the richest man in the UK this year, and who was also knighted in June—has waged a public campaign to downplay the risks of fracking in the UK. The supply of fracked gas would feed the company’s energy-intensive petrochemical facilities, which are major sources of air and water pollution around the world.
Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe Executive Director Wenonah Hauter issued the following statement:
“Jim Ratcliffe has pioneered Trans-Atlantic gas liquids shipments from Pennsylvania, which means more fracking and pollution in the United States and more plastics manufacturing pollution in Scotland. All of that drilling brings us closer to climate chaos, which is why the fight against fracking must be global. Polluters like Ratcliffe must be held responsible for the damage they are causing around the globe.”
Reacting to the news that Ratcliffe is moving to live in a tax haven, Joe Corré of Talk Fracking said: “Jim Ratcliffe has used the legal system in the UK to silence people’s right to protest in the form of far-reaching draconian injunctions. He’s bought the government pushing through permitted development for fracking against science and against the will of the people. After all that, Britain’s richest man – worth £22 Billion – has made himself a tax exile in Monaco.”
Steve Mason, spokesman for Frack Free United, added: “Here we see the true colours of Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos. Just like Amazon, Ratcliffe’s primary aim is making tax-free cash at the expense of the UK population, which includes environmental and health impacts for hundreds of communities. This trumps his cynical use of the America’s Cup team and the sponsoring of kids’ fun runs to greenwash his plans to frack up the North to enrich his plastics empire. The artful dodger has definitely been bettered!”
Over the past dozen years, Ineos has transformed from a global chemical powerhouse into an oil, gas, and petrochemical conglomerate. The company’s number of shale licenses makes it the UK’s number one wannabe-fracker.
Ineos has promoted itself as an “Anglo-Swiss” company. In 2016, Ineos re-opened its London headquarters with fanfare, and its executive owners became UK tax residents. Despite Ineos’ substantial UK footprint, it is far from an English company; parent company Ineos Limited is incorporated in the Isle of Man, a low-tax offshore finance centre. And many of Ineos’ biggest holding companies—such as Ineos AG, Ineos Holdings AG and Ineos Europe AG—are based in Switzerland.
Petrochemical giant Ineos lost its challenge to the Scottish government’s moratorium on fracking.
In response, Food & Water Europe and Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter issued the following statement:
“In its quest to frack Scotland, Ineos has been blocked by local government officials, the courts, and the overwhelming majority of the Scottish public. The company should heed this overwhelming opposition and abandon its dangerous scheme to frack Scotland.
“Ineos’ fracking for plastics has made a significant contribution to pollution on both sides of the Atlantic. The company has most recently complained about the negative impacts of the shutdown of the Mariner East pipeline in Pennsylvania, which supplies its Grangemouth facility. It is clear that Ineos only wants to frack the UK in order to secure a cheap feedstock for its plastic production.
“The next step for the Scottish government is to clear up any remaining ambiguity and enact a once-and-for-all total ban on fracking.”
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