Don’t be fooled by Ineos executives talk of a “science stage” and “testing”. They are currently putting together equipment and logistics for a full scale invasion of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire & Rotherham in an attempt to source gas for their chemicals business.
For a long time there has been a concern that if the fracking industry became permanently stalled in the UK, the Government would eventually resort to the compulsory purchase of land and the army would be called in to carry out the drilling and fracking!!! Leaving aside the fact that neither the Government or the army have the capacity or resources to do this, the prospect was chilling and mostly evoked by road and airport building projects in previous decades. However with Ineos entry into the UK shale scene in 2015, a new reality has been cast. Extreme Energy extraction at the hands of ethically bankrupt asset strippers Ineos takes us far further into a neo-liberal dystopia than state funded fracking ever could. This privately owned multinational (piloted by megalomaniac Jim Ratcliffe, a man who’s response to climate change was to try and build a luxury beach house on hydraulic jacks) is planning a full scale invasion of 1.2 million acres of the UK with a private army and without the need to purchase any land.
Ineos Gambles On UK Shale
Too big to fail Ineos are no strangers to controversy and near disaster after dismal treatment of their workforce and regular safety scares at their refinery at Grangemouth. Not content with a £350m project to import U.S shale gas, Ineos started buying up licence areas in Scotland and then went on to bid for more licenses in the 14th Onshore Licence round. By March this year Ineos Upstream had control of 21 licence areas across Cheshire, the East Midlands and Yorkshire. Behind the scenes they embarked on a spending spree pulling together the expertise and executives they needed to enter into an entirely new sector (Jim Ratcliffe also plans to enter the automotive industry). Their PR machine released a spate of post truth publicity about the benefits of shale gas and promised unprecedented theoretical kickbacks for communities. Most significantly however, they accidentally revealed their plans for production with diagrams of 30 sites and 398 wells in each 10km square licence block. For the first time in the UK a fracking company let slip the true scale of it’s plans.
Ineos Plans Revealed
It must be remembered that for Ineos this is not about supplying gas for anyone else, it’s about securing gas feedstock for their chemicals businesses, at or below the import price. At cosy “consultation” events with communities and councils Ineos executives talk as if they are a benevolent nationalised industry, but never reveal their true intentions or detail of their long-term plans. Now with the help of a number of whistle blowers and keen eyed community groups, we have started to pieced together how far Ineos are prepared to go in pursuit of profit and their cynical development of an entirely new military logistics company to deliver it.
Military Logistics Company Hired For Seismic Survey
After years of threats chemical giant turned fracking company Ineos seems set to try to get ‘boots on the ground’ with a planned seismic survey in North Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire aiming to start soon. The survey has been significantly delayed by a robust community response.
Ineos began approaching landowners in Sept 2016 and was originally talking about starting work in Sept/Oct 2016. Now recruitment adverts have begun appearing from a military logistics company called Arturius International trying to recruit ex-military personnel for a survey to begin soon. >>> Read Full Article >>>
Billionaire Industrialist Targets Ex-Soldiers To Carry Out Minimum Wage Fracking Tests
If there’s one thing that Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe hates more than “poor” environmental performance ratings, major incidents at Grangemouth and Unions, it’s almost certainly the workers that risk their lives to keep his businesses running.
This could explain the creation of an entirely new military logistics company Arturius International, created with a bunch of ex-military brass and a life peer with the intention of managing a transient, union-free, self employed, minimum wage workforce. >>> Read Full Article >>>
Ineos Asset Stripping Largest Fracking Equipment Set In Europe
Links between chemical giant turned fracking company Ineos and a now bankrupt Polish fracking services company, raise the worrying prospect that Ineos is asset striping the company, to obtain equipment it needs to start fracking this country at knock down prices.
The equipment in question includes 2 sets of kit for conducting hydraulic fracturing, as well as potentially a drilling rig and large amounts of seismic surveying equipment. Ineos has just submitted its first fracking planning application, at Marsh Lane in Derbyshire, and is also aiming to begin a seismic survey in the area within weeks. >>> Read Full Article >>>
Ineos Bigger & Badder, But Just As Vulnerable!!!
Ineos and all of the other UK fracking companies are exploiting primitive legislation, drafted long before high volume hydraulic fracturing was invented, to gain access to onshore shale resources. The legislation does not require that they purchase any land so landowners are always left with the liability of abandoned wells once the company has finished it’s operations. However the whole exploration and surveying process is extremely vulnerable to concerted local resistance and is the first opportunity a community has to resist the industry on the ground. Fracking companies need unfettered access to land across the whole survey area and an informed and organised community is in a very good position to deny this. By banding together and refusing access to lots of properties and causing disruption the cost of the survey can be greatly increased and in some cases stopped entirely. There are already some useful allies taking a stand including the National Trust at Clumber Park near Worksop, who have said that they will not allow Ineos access. This is a challenge that communities across the East Midlands can take on together.
Take Action Where You Live!
For guidance on opposing a survey in your area read this useful FAQ. Use these Seismic Survey Flyers for raising awareness about the threat posed by seismic surveys in your area. There is also a Seismic Spotter Sheet that highlights the signs and activity that are associated with a survey being carried out in your area.
An organised community is the best defense against the Fracking industry. Get our step-by-step guides and start planning an effective Anti-Fracking campaign where you live here…
The most significant factor in what happens next is building a community response in your area. If we can be of any assistance, or you want to report suspected activity, please email outreach@frack-off.org or call 07858 614861.
Click To See Ineos Fracking Licence Areas In Yorkshire, Cheshire & East Midlands
