Friends of the Earth defends its record on lobbying against fracking
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Version 0 of 1. Friends of the Earth (FoE) has defended its record on lobbying against shale gas fracking, after accusations from one of the companies involved in drilling that it had acted contrary to its charitable status. The green campaigning organisation sent out a press release last December, applauding the Labour party’s decision to call for a moratorium on fracking, which was posted automatically through its systems to its website. Subsequently, the organisation said, this was discovered to be a mistake. The press release was understood as coming from the charitable arm of FoE, whose ability to lobby on political issues is restricted by government rules, rather than the separate arm, a limited company, which is permitted to do so. Friends of the Earth said it had amended the misattribution after being alerted by the Charity Commission. The Times newspaper on Tuesday quoted the chief executive of the fracking company Cuadrilla, Francis Egan, claiming that FoE had “misled” the Charity Commission. “We have long been concerned about the myth-peddling and scaremongering by Friends of the Earth on shale gas and fracking. Now we discover they have misled their own regulator,” he was reported as saying. Tuesday was the first day of a public inquiry into Lancashire county council’s rejection last summer of Cuadrilla’s fracking plans, at which the company gave evidence. Mike Childs, head of policy at FoE, said: “These repeated attempts to silence and discredit those opposed to fracking is a ploy to distract from the well-documented risks of fracking to our beautiful countryside, to the health of local people and to our climate.” He added: “The real issue here is about fracking in Lancashire and the wishes of local people, who have already rejected fracking, getting to decide the fate of their community. Fracking poses a major threat to people and the environment. Local communities and businesses in Lancashire have already rejected fracking and we are campaigning alongside them to prevent their local democratic decisions from being overturned.” The case highlights the difficulties that charities face in voicing concerns on political developments and party policies. Under new rules formulated by the previous coalition government, charities are severely restricted in the lobbying they are permitted to do. Charities now face even further restrictions. The Cabinet Office is recommending - following the advice of the rightwing thinktank, the Institute of Economic Affairs - that charities receiving funds from taxpayers should not be allowed to use those resources to raise concerns with government. This is controversial, as so many charities – from green campaigners to housing and homeless organisations, health charities, poverty campaigners, and many more – deal with social issues that inevitably are the subject of government policy. If their ability to raise concerns on issues that are affected by government policy is restricted further, they may find it increasingly difficult to address the root causes of the problems they are set up to solve, rather than just treat the symptoms. |