CAMPAIGNERS have branded an offer by energy giant Ineos to build a test fracking site in Britain in order to prove the practice is safe as futile and misguided. 

Ineos claims extracting shale gas in Britain could make the country self-sufficient in 10 years. 

In a letter to ministers at the weekend, Ineos boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe claimed such a move would reduce the cost of energy at a time when the country is looking to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. 

The government ordered a review into fracking last week, three years after suspending the practice in Britain amid safety concerns. 

But environmental campaigners have issued dire warnings about the the Ineos plan. Friends of the Earth campaigner Jamie Peters said: “Drilling to prove fracking is safe would be like jumping off a cliff thinking this time you might fly: it’s futile, misguided and wilful ignorance of scientific fact.

“In the 10 years before fracking was suspended, the industry only managed to frack two sites and both of them had to be aborted due to earth tremors experienced by local communities.”

Greenpeace warned that restarting fracking in Britain would only waste time. “It will take many years to develop and, if it ever gets produced, it will be sold to the highest bidder on the international market, with no impact on our energy bills,” the environmental group’s head of energy Rosie Rogers said. 

The renewed interest in fracking has also sparked alarm among communities previously affected by it in Lancashire. 

A spokesperson for the Frack Free Lancashire group said: “Fracking in the UK has been proven to be unsafe and unacceptable. 

“It is the wrong technology, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. After the recent Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change report, it is clear that Ineos should stop pushing it as we need to transition away from fossil fuels, not invest in further assets that will simply end up being stranded.
 
“This is typical opportunism by Mr Ratcliffe of Ineos, who is attempting to capitalise on the energy crisis at the expense of unwilling communities.”

Campaigners said the government should instead tackle the energy crisis by insulating homes and boosting renewable sources of energy.