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‘PLANET INEOS’ : THE QUEST TO FRACK FOR PLASTICS THREATENS AIR, WATER, AND CLIMATE

BREAKING:  Scottish Court Rules Against Ineos in Fracking Case

Food & Water Watch / Food & Water Europe documents delivered to No 10 Downing Street by fashion icon Vivienne Westwood and her son Jon Corré

London/Brussels/ — Dame Vivienne Westwood and her son Joe Corré brought a vision of Armageddon today to No 10 on UN World Environment Day in a protest over pollution from fracking, and the government’s hypocrisy over plastics.

Backed by research materials from Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe on the corporate profile and bad environmental record of secretive petrochemical company Ineos, they’ve delivered ‘Planet INEOS”, a representation of the harms caused by plastic pollution and climate change.

Petrochemical giant INEOS is Britain’s biggest private company, owned by UK’s richest man, controversial billionaire and fracking profiteer Jim Ratcliffe. Ineos owns more fracking licenses than any other energy company in the UK and already use fracked gas from the United States to manufacture plastics.

The campaigners say that despite the government’s recently announced War on Plastic, its industrial policy gives plastic production a higher priority than energy.

Corré, who is head of Talk Fracking, says: “It’s impossible to reconcile the Government’s War on Plastic with its policy on fracking when they’re clearly enabling the creation of yet more problem plastic. It’s sheer hypocrisy.

“If INEOS get their way and fulfil their ambition to frack the length and breadth of the UK, they will be making a vast contribution to the already growing pile of cheap plastics in the world today.”

INEOS have a horrendous environmental track record in Europe and have been responsible for toxic chemicals, leaks, fires and explosions that have endangered workers, communities and the environment.

“Now they plan to bring those dangers to hundreds of communities across the UK, just to make more plastics that we don’t want,” Corré added.

Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Watch Europe Executive Director Wenonah Hauter, said: “INEOS’s fracking dreams are a nightmare for communities on both sides of the Atlantic, and that’s why so many people are speaking up to stop them. Anyone who cares about the climate crisis, the increasing burden of global plastics pollution, and the air and water pollution associated with petrochemical manufacturing should get active in the fight to stop INEOS from fracking the UK.”

This action is being supported by the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement.

More than 30 Grassroots Movements and NGOs Form an Alliance Against Factory Farming in Spain

Madrid—Last weekend, the second national meeting of Spanish communities against factory farming took place in Minglanilla (Cuenca), involving more than 20 grassroots movements from affected areas all over the country and ten national and international organisations.

The organisation of a national coordination against factory farming started last year to face the dramatic and uncontrolled increase of factory farms in Spain. Its aim is to coordinate movements and organisations opposing this industry.

“The second national meeting ‘Stop Factory Farmin’’ has been a clear success. Many movements from affected regions were represented, with loads of energy to campaign against the hundreds of new factory farm projects that could turn our rural areas into real dung-hills,” said Inma Lozano, spokesperson of the National Alliance Stop Factory Farming. “Factory farming has severe impacts on the environment, public health, rural economies and animal welfare and we need to stop it as soon as possible,” she added.

The National Coordination supports the mobilizations against factory farming that will happen in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) on Thursday 31st of May, organised by the regional platforms.

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The Spanish National Coordination against Factory Farming (Coordinadora Estatal Stop Ganadería Industrial) includes local movements from Andalusia (Stop Cerdos Intensivos en el Altiplano de Granada y Almería), Aragon (Plataforma Loporzano SIN Ganadería Intensiva), Castille-La Mancha (ADERA – Asociación para la Economía Responsable de Almendros, Asociación ecologista Serendipia, CLM Stop Macrogranjas, Coordinadora Acuífero 23 sin macrogranjas, El Horcajo Plataforma Cívica- Lucillos, Plataforma Cívica de Gamonal, Plataforma no a la macrogranja en Pozuelo y Argamasón, Plataforma Retamoso Sostenible – Stop Macrogranjas, Pueblos Vivos Cuenca, Pueblos Vivos/Stop Macrogranjas de Cañete, Pueblos Vivos/Stop Macrogranjas de Priego, Stop Macrogranjas Alpera y Ayora, Stop macrogranjas Comarca de Molina de Aragón), Castille and Leon (Plataforma Pueblos unidos de Tábara) and Murcia (Plataforma Ciudadana Salvemos el Arabí y Comarca); and national and international NGO (Friends of the Earth Spain, Compassion in World Farming, Ecologistas en Acción, Food & Water Europe, Greenpeace and Justicia Alimentaria).

European Parliament to Address #ExxonKnew Scandal, Consider Action Against the Fossil Fuel Giant

Categories

Food

Parliament Committee Will Address a Petition Submitted by Food & Water Europe Demanding Accountability for Decades-Long Climate Change Cover-Up

May 15, 2018 – The Petitions Committee of the European Parliament announced that it will consider tomorrow a petition calling on the Parliament to take action to hold ExxonMobil accountable for its decades-long cover-up of internal documents tying its fossil fuel production to globe-threatening climate change. The scandal, known colloquially as #ExxonKnew, arose in 2015 when evidence came to light showing that Exxon scientists confirmed at least as early as 1981 that fossil fuel extraction and burning contributed significantly to dangerous climate change, but hid those conclusions and funded massive efforts to publicly challenge its own internal science.

Parliament’s interest in challenging Exxon comes in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s egregious climate denial and aggressive promotion of the fossil fuel industry. President Trump appointed Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil during much of their science cover-up period, as his first secretary of state. The European Union, signatory of the Paris Climate Agreement and aiming at becoming global leader in renewable energy should take its responsibility to draw boundaries to fossil fuel multinationals like Exxon. With ExxonMobil’s misleading campaign on the European Parliament’s agenda, parliamentarians have now the chance to help protect EU citizens from the corporation’s risky business and to walk the talk of preserving EU climate and energy targets.

“ExxonMobil has misled the public debate on climate change for over 40 years but due to close ties between ExxonMobil and the Trump administration, an initial push to hold the corporation accountable is stalled,” said Member of European Parliament Marina Albiol Guzman, a member of the Petitions Committee. “Tackling ExxonMobil’s climate cover up now in the European Parliament could be an opportunity for parliamentarians to walk the talk and prove their willingness to tackle climate change and honor the Paris Agreement.”

“European Parliament’s interest in holding ExxonMobil accountable for its decades of lies and cover-ups is certainly encouraging,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe. “The ball is now rolling on a process that may finally force Exxon to reckon with its toxic, deceitful past and answer for its assault on our planet. We urge Parliament to act swiftly and aggressively in this critical matter, and take powerful action against Exxon.”

 

Contact: Frida Kieninger – Tel: +32 (0) 2893 1045, Mobile: +32 (0) 487 24 99 05

Chemical Companies Go to Court to Challenge Scotland Fracking Ban

Chemical Companies Go to Court to Challenge Scotland Fracking Ban

The international petrochemical giant Ineos, joined by the Scottish company Reach Coal Seams Gas, is in court to challenge the Scottish government’s indefinite moratorium on fracking.

Faced with overwhelming public opposition to drilling, the government announced early this year that it would extend a fracking moratorium indefinitely. The companies are trying their case in the Court of Session this week.

Ineos is the main shale license holder in the UK, and plans to frack parts of Scotland and England in order to use the hydrocarbons as a feedstock for plastic production. The company currently imports fracked hydrocarbons from the United States.

In response to the court challenge, Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe, released the following statement:

“Ineos’s appalling and astonishing record of environmental violations at its facilities across the globe should warrant serious scrutiny. Now it wants to do more harm to clean air, safe water, and a livable climate by trying to force the Scottish government to let it frack their country. Tens of thousands of people across Scotland have spoken out against this dangerous plan, and Scottish officials were right to stop Ineos before it could start drilling. The future belongs to clean energy, not to fossil fuel corporate behemoths like Ineos, which will use every tool at its disposal to force fracking on Scotland. Ineos has lost in the court of public opinion, and they will lose this court challenge as well.”

EU/UK Andy Gheorghiu, Food & Water Europe, [email protected]

US Peter Hart, Food & Water Watch, [email protected], 732-839-0871

Joint Statement by Food & Water Europe and Friends of the Earth Europe on PCI List Vote

March 14th, 2018 – MEPs in Strasbourg today voted on a motion to oppose the EU’s Projects of Common Interest (PCI) list, on the basis that it includes over 100 new fossil gas infrastructure projects. However there was no majority to reject the list, which also includes a number of other energy infrastructure projects.

Reacting to the vote, Antoine Simon, Fossil Free campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, said: “A full rejection of this list of priority energy infrastructure (PCI) was always going to be a tall order; but it’s welcome to see 177 MEPs for the first time opposing the EU’s reckless support for new climate-wrecking gas projects. The time is running out to end our dependency on fossil fuels and that means no new gas pipelines.”

Frida Kieninger, Campaign Officer for Food & Water Europe, said: “While it is the first time that the EU-Parliament voices open objection to this priority list for fossil fuels, this is also the first PCI list designed and adopted after the Paris Climate Agreement entered into force. With a far too strong focus on fossil gas projects, today’s adoption of the PCI list marks a setback for the environment, human rights and our global climate.”

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Notes: 

The PCI list covers priority energy infrastructure projects to be built in Europe, drawn up by the European Commission, Member States and European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG). Approved projects become eligible for EU funding (under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)).

The list contains the controversial Southern Gas Corridor, which has already been associated with serious human rights violations in Azerbajan; the MidCat pipeline between France and Spain facing growing protests on both sides of the Pyrenees; and three LNG terminals in Croatia, Greece and Ireland, for environmentally destructive shale gas imported from the US.

Friends of the Earth Europe has previously revealed that the list is based on flawed data provided by the gas industry, and has not been tested against the Paris Agreement’s climate targets.

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Contact:
Antoine Simon, Fossil Free campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, [email protected], +32 (0) 486 685 664
Frida Kieninger, Campaign Officer for Food & Water Europe, [email protected], +32 (0) 487 249 905

 

Broad Coalition Backs National Trust in Fracking Fight With Ineos

Categories

Food

Brussels and Washington, D.C. — Citing concerns over climate change, protecting sensitive ecological sites, and preserving local control of lands, a diverse coalition of groups and academics from the United Kingdom and the United States released a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May supporting the National Trust’s efforts to prevent the petrochemical company Ineos from making the first steps towards fracking in one of England’s most treasured environmental areas.

The letter is supported by Food & Water Watch, Food & Water Europe, Oil Change International and academics from both countries, including the Marine Conservation Society, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Campaign to Protect Rural England, World Wildlife Foundation, Greenpeace, Frack Free United, Friends of the Earth and UK Youth Climate Coalition. The letter was also signed by individuals and academics including fashion icon Vivienne Westwood and her son Joe Corré, Cornell Professor Robert Howarth, Dr. Sandra Steingraber, Prof. Nick Cowern and Prof. Peter Strachan.

“Ineos’s fracking dreams are a nightmare for communities on both sides of the Atlantic, and that’s why so many anti-fracking campaigners are speaking up to stop them,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Watch Europe. “Anyone who cares about the climate crisis, the increasing burden of global plastics pollution, and the air and water pollution associated with petrochemical manufacturing should get active in the fight to stop Ineos from fracking the UK–and anywhere else for that matter.”

Ineos currently is the major shale license holder in the UK, and is attempting to force its way into the National Trust’s Clumber Park, a sensitive and historically significant site that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. After blocking access to land surveyors, Ineos has responded by taking legal action against the National Trust.

With facilities around the globe, Ineos’s environmental violations and history of air pollution have come under increased scrutiny. The petrochemical giant is pursuing drilling in the United Kingdom in order to supply its facilities with fracked hydrocarbons that can be used to produce plastics. Their corporate vision comes at a time in history when global warming and the plastic pollution of our oceans and shorelines are the most critical issues of our generation, and the ones to come.

The company’s ambitions are relevant to battles over fracking in the United States. Ineos developed a fleet of “dragon ships” to carry gas liquids from Pennsylvania to its facilities in Scotland and Norway. Those shipments are likely to increase if the massive Mariner East 2 pipeline is completed. But that pipeline — a project of Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners — has been a source of intense controversy, with construction causing drilling spills and water contamination. Most recently, a series of sinkholes caused state regulators to halt operations on the existing Mariner East 1 pipeline.

Ineos’s fracking plans across the United Kingdom have been running into determined local opposition. As the letter to Prime Minister May notes, opinion polls show strong public opposition to fracking, which suggest that the public understands the array of risks associated with the practice. And the Scottish government, in response to overwhelming public opposition, announced its decision to ban fracking last year.

As the letter to Prime Minister May puts it, “Climate change is one of the most urgent and complex threats to the British countryside today. Fracking poses significant risks to the natural environment through loss or fragmentation of habitat, disturbance of wildlife and potential pollution of watercourses that support sensitive ecosystems and biodiversity and as driver of climate change.”

Download the letter here