IN presenting his case for fracking,Jim Ratcliffe, the CEO of the INEOS chemicals group stood with the Grangemouth refinery behind him.
This refinery, as well as petrochemical plants at Billingham and Wilton, is infinitely more sophisticated and potentially much more dangerous than the fracking process.
They rely on the ability of designers, plant operatives and maintenance workers to keep them safe.
The fracking process is not dissimilar to that used for the extraction of salt as used on Teesside, using a process developed in the Alcase region of France in the late 19th Century. This wetlands area is now the home of an RSPB reserve.
My guess is that if pressure groups had been around in those days, nothing would have been built, particularly railways, as many people, including Queen Victoria, feared them.
Colin Hatton, Middlesbrough.
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