Politics

Any Way the Wind Blows at Weber Shandwick

By Diane Farsetta

Weber Shandwick UK counts among its clients Viking Energy, a company "seeking to build a 153-turbine wind farm in the Shetlands." But the PR firm's chair of public affairs, Jonathan McLeod, recently launched an anti-wind power campaign, using his Weber Shandwick email address. McLeod announced the formation of the "National Alliance of Wind farm Action Groups," or NAWAG, stating: "For too long, the 'greenwash' of the wind industry has gone unchallenged." Asked about the contradiction, McLeod said NAWAG is a personal campaign and he would, in the future, use a different email for NAWAG business. "It's true our company does specialise in community relations with these kind of projects," he added. As NAWAG's chair, McLeod criticized wind farm developers' efforts to "force turbines on communities." New Energy Focus notes that "such techniques, presumably, include hiring his own company to promote wind farm projects." NAWAG, which counts 30 anti-wind farm groups across Britain as its members, plans to lobby the Conservative Party's shadow cabinet for restrictions on wind farms.

Full post as published by PR Watch on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).