Cut and Run Sir?
A couple of days ago I posted regarding the astroturfing efforts of the industry-funded front group the North West Energy Task Force.
I was particularly interested by the claim made by local farmer, John Loftus who said:
Based on the jobs it has already created around my farm, shale gas will certainly have some very positive effects on the local area.
This by the way is the same John Loftus who was on Channel 4 in 2013 when it was reported
John Loftus has the privilege – a dubious one in many people’s minds – of being the first and only person in Britain to have his land fracked for shale gas. …. He wouldn’t tell me how much money Cuadrilla Resources paid him for access to his land said isn’t enough to make him the J R Ewing of Lancashire.
“It beats growing potatoes, but it’s only about 1-2 per cent of my income.”
I Tweeted NWET panel member John Kearsey to see if he could shed any light on this:
John Kersey
he declined to answer saying:
So I asked him again this morning and got this bizarre stream back:
It seems he is upset that I posted this Tweet
Now I know I haven’t included all of John’s many illustrious titles (I’m sorry if your vanity was pricked John but I only had 140 characters) but those I did mention were sourced from his own Linked In profile:
So, John, if we got any of that wrong we know whose fault it was don’t we 🙂
I am at something of a loss to understand why he keeps calling me Alf (my name is John) – maybe he has been sniffing his own hairspray or maybe he is just trying to distract attention from the fact that he is clearly unable to answer any questions about fracking jobs without admitting that Mr Loftus’s claims are clearly insubstantiable.
This though is the calibre of the so called North West Energy Task Force, who appear happy to mislead and scaremonger, but who seem totally unable to engage in any meaningful way once they are put on the spot and asked to back up the claims they make for the benefits of fracking.
If Mr Kearsey relents and decides to answer the question rather than just literally calling me names and avoiding the issue then I’ll be sure to let you know.
Until next time xxx
