YOUR report of Ineos’ s attacks on Friends of the Earth Scotland (“Fracking giant Ineos fights back against the green lobby”, The Herald, July 22) says that the company and its PR people have decided on a new approach which involves attacking us directly. The company’s previous attempts to convince local people were not a notable success with a series of difficult public meetings across the Central Belt in spring last year.
Its new offensive is a clear sign of desperation. The Scottish Parliament vote to ban fracking will no doubt have thrown it into a tizzy. Ineos knows that the Scottish Government’s forthcoming studies looking at health, climate change, earthquakes, house prices and traffic impacts are going to turn up the same kind of evidence that has led to fracking being banned in countries and regions across the world, with Germany the latest to ban shale gas fracking just last month.
It also knows that the Scottish population is massively against its plans to drill 1,400 fracking wells across the Central Belt, and Ineos is almost certain to be on the losing side in the big public consultation that will take place in the winter ahead of a government decision in the spring.
Ineos will no doubt spend a small fortune trying to sway people with PR activity in the run-up to and during the public consultation, and last week’s comments were just the opening salvo in its attempts to attack those who disagree with them. It’s going to be a long fight, with more tedious attacks from Ineos, but we are convinced the Scottish Government will eventually find in favour of communities and protecting the climate, and ban fracking for good.
Dr Richard Dixon,
Director, Friends of the Earth Scotland,
Thorn House, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh
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