Lord Howell plots with fracking firms in Windsor dungeon
Date: 28 August 2013
Two weeks ago, Corporate Watch shed light on various connections between the Windsor Energy Group (WEG) and the UK government. The WEG is chaired by Lord Howell, who made an infamous gaffe last month when he described “desolate areas” in the north-east of England where there is “plenty of room for fracking”.
(Foreign and Commonwealth Office – Photo credit)
This article comes at an interesting time for the World Development Movement as we recently released an infographic as part of our Carbon Capital Campaign. It reveals that one third of UK minsters have connections to the ‘finance and energy companies responsible for driving climate change’. According to Corporate Watch, some of WEG’s corporate participants include Shell and British Gas owner Centrica.
Fracking is the controversial process of injecting liquid into shale rock underground to crack it and release natural gas. Not only have cases of water pollution been recorded in the US, but fracking is likely to increase traffic and air pollution. Recent research also suggests that the process is as greenhouse gas emitting as coal. Energy company Cuadrilla admitted that drilling for shale gas will have minimum effect on energy prices in the UK, a claim that stands in opposition to Prime Minister David Cameron’s that shale gas will lower overall energy prices.
Having attended the protest myself, the overall feeling seems to be one of concern about the country rushing into a potentially environmentally-damaging process without having enough facts. Exploratory drilling by energy company Cuadrilla Resources started in Balcombe (Sussex) last month only to be met by thousands of protesters over the weekend of the 16 – 18th August.
(Sheilabythesea – Photo credit)
WEG’s Director, Ian Walker, told Corporate Watch that WEG is “a not for profit organisation that brings together policy-makers and energy practitioners to review global developments in the energy world”. The organisation hosts dinners around the world and a two-day summit every March at Windsor Castle. Fracking has been a topic on WEG’s agenda for years. An invitation to the summit held in 2011 listed ‘‘European energy security concerns and shale gas’’ as topics to be covered. Individuals promised to attend included the chief economist at BP, the former chairman of Shell and ‘Barclays Capital, Exxon, Kuwait Petroleum and private security firm Aegis’.
Lord David Howell himself is no stranger to the British political system, having been a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from May 2010 until September 2012. Lord Howell then went onto become William Hague’s personal advisor on Energy and Resource Security until April 2013. It’s going to be especially difficult to tackle the organisations that contribute to climate change when many of them have connections to policy-makers.
