The Socialist 13 December 2017

Save our NHS

Brexit deal no solution to Tory rifts

Labour 'purge' furore really just democracy

A world in crisis, ripe for revolution

Trump's incendiary Jerusalem statement reignites Israeli-Palestinian conflict

110 years ago: massacre at Santa Maria school in Chile - commemorate 21 December 1907

Save our NHS

Two in five 'right to buy' homes now for let

Retail sector crunch: nationalise to save jobs

Uni market 'failure', two-year degrees - end cuts, scrap fees!

Them & Us

Local government pay: fight for the 5% claim, fully funded

Strikers rally in Liverpool

Unite day of action against blacklisting

Brighton victory

Anti-DOO lobby of Liverpool's transport committee

Teachers strike in Sheffield

Newham anti-academies strikes

Tory plan to hold dinner at coal mining museum defeated

Totnes MP uses coffin controversy to distract from brutal NHS cuts

South London health bosses' cover-up

Movement growing against fracking giant Ineos

Six months on - still no justice for Grenfell

Bradford campaign to save children's services launched

Tamil Solidarity and Refugee Rights activists meeting

The Socialist's 2017 quiz

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/975/26620

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 13 December 2017 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook

Movement growing against fracking giant Ineos

photo John McSporran (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

Jon Dale, Mansfield Socialist Party

The movement against fracking is growing across north Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and north Nottinghamshire.

These former mining areas have been targeted by Ineos, the giant chemical company. It has been awarded licenses to explore for shale oil and now has machinery carrying out seismic surveys in fields near towns and villages.

This involves drilling holes and setting off explosive charges below ground to measure sound waves travelling back from the rocks below.

With this information, Ineos will decide where to site its fracking rigs, which will bring noise, heavy traffic and environmental pollution. The underground aquifer supplying the whole area with water is at risk.

Ineos has been allowed to bypass planning procedures with elected councillors, going instead directly to the government. The limited democratic controls that do exist are being brushed aside, as allowed by rules the government passed in 2015.

Anti-fracking groups are being set up in many ex-mining towns and villages. Bright yellow 'Fracking No Way' posters are in many shops and houses. 160 people attended a meeting called by the campaign in Bolsover.

One person not supporting local campaigns is former North East Derbyshire Labour MP Natascha Engel, who lost her seat in June to an anti-fracking Tory (in his constituency, not in principle!). As well as Engel's Blairite record, a factor in her defeat was her defending fracking.

She has now taken this a step further and is being paid by Ineos to write a booklet that will "explain shale exploration and development," according to Ineos. It will also explain more about "combating climate change, energy needs, and the positive impact on jobs, training, industry and community benefits."

Ineos is owned by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who spends much time on his 78-metre luxury yacht. Ineos should be nationalised, along with the gas and electricity industries so that sustainable energy production can be democratically planned instead of being run for profit.

In this issue

What we think

Brexit deal no solution to Tory rifts