The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Ineos in legal bid to overturn ban on fracking
Firm applies for judicial review of Scottish Government decision
Energy giant Ineos is launching a legal bid to overturn the Scottish Government’s fracking ban.
The Grangemouth operators say ministers misused powers in a flawed process towards effectively outlawing the energy extraction technique.
Tom Pickering, operations director at Ineos Shale, said they have applied for a judicial review of the decision.
Among the places which have significant underground reserves of untapped shale gas are areas around Methil, Kirkcaldy and Rosyth.
Mr Pickering said: “The decision in October was a major blow to Scottish science and its engineering industry, as well as being financially costly to Ineos, other businesses and indeed the nation as a whole.
“It also removed at a stroke the potential for the country in these uncertain times to secure its own indigenous energy supply.
“We have serious concerns about the legitimacy of the ban and have therefore applied to the court to ask that it review the competency of the decision to introduce it.”
Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, involves drilling into the ground and shooting a mix of water, sand and chemicals to release gas.
The planning system forbids the granting of consent for the practice, a policy which was confirmed by the energy minister in October.
Mark Ruskell, a Fife MSP and the Scottish Greens’ energy spokesman, said the move by Ineos is “predictable and desperate”.
“Scotland doesn’t want or need fracking and Ineos should accept they lost the democratic debate in the Scottish Parliament,” he said.
“The evidence was there to ban fracking and that is what Holyrood has done.”
Mary Church, from Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “We are confident that the process to ban fracking was robust and fair, and the courts will find against Ineos.”
It would be the latest in a string of Government decisions subjected to judicial review.
It comes after SNP ministers were taken to court over the named person and minimum unit pricing policies.
Murdo Fraser, for the Scottish Conservatives, said that another appearance in court for the SNP reveals their “amateurish attitude”.
“The SNP’s decision to ban fracking is rooted in dogma and ignores the economic benefits it could bring to Scotland,” he added.
“Further exploration of shale extraction could also reduce the need for gas imports, and even help relieve fuel poverty.”
Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse, said: “We have taken a careful and considered approach to arriving at our preferred policy on unconventional oil and gas in Scotland.
Mr Wheelhouse added: “The Scottish Government’s position was endorsed by the Scottish Parliament in October, subject to completion of a Strategic Environmental Assessment, and follows detailed assessment of the evidence and consultation with the public.”
Jim Ratcliffe has strapped his boxing gloves on and is spoiling for a fight. The billionaire Ineos boss is Scotland’s most powerful industrialist with control of Grangemouth, the giant petrochemicals hub on the Forth which contributes 4% of the nation’s gross domestic product.
But his company and the Scottish Government have been at loggerheads since a moratorium was placed on the development of unconventional hydrocarbons – principally fracking for shale gas – north of the border in 2015.
After a lengthy process that moratorium effectively became an outright ban on unconventional exploration in October when the Scottish Parliament adopted a policy of no planning support for any such applications. At a stroke, Ineos’s licences for potential shale plays across Central Scotland were rendered worthless.
That was never going to go down well with a wily operator like Mr Ratcliffe and, by calling for judicial review, he has come out swinging.
Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse was considered in his response yesterday, saying the policy on unconventionals was arrived at after “detailed assessment of the evidence and consultation with the public.”
Whether he remained as calm on the subject behind closed doors is unknown. Ineos is a formidable opponent for anyone, especially when the prize is access to untapped shale reserves potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds or more.
Make no bones about this, Ineos has the resources – both in cash terms and access to expertise – to make life very difficult for Scottish legislators.
It will expect to win its case and will have no compunction in taking its cause to the very highest court in the land in order to get the result it craves.
The Scottish Parliament has turned its face against unconventionals, and many green campaigners up and down the land agree with that standpoint.
But, if judicial review is granted, this is no longer a moral or ethical fight.
It is about the law and whether ‘i’s have been dotted and ‘t’s crossed. Ineos has the appetite for a dust-up. The question is whether the Scottish Government has similar reserves of energy to go toe-to-toe in the courts.
Ineos has the resources to make life very difficult for Scottish legislators