Planning chief John Saunders in charge of 400 billion has shares in

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Meadow F

New member
renewable energy companies? . . . is this a possible conflict of interests>

The infamous magazine, Private Eye (issue 1257, p.27), reports that John Saunders, the head of a new government appointed body set up take planning consent issues away from local councils has shares in many of the companies whose proposals he will supposedly be reviewing.

The Infrastructure Planning Commission will take its direction from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (seriously, that's its name) and will have a budget of £400 BILLION! - that's about six hundred billion dollars - over the next decade.

As the Eye reports:
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""Those likely to be affected by the turbines to come will at least hope Saunder's commission makes its decisions impartially and transparently. So it is not reassuring that it recently refused to release details of its commissioner's financial interests, telling the Eye that it was 'personal information protected by the data protection act'.

This was always nonsense, and the Eye has now forced a detailed response from the commission using freedom of information laws. The details perhaps make the reason for the initial secrecy clearer. Saunders has declared shareholdings in the following companies: National Grid, National Power, Powergen, Innogy and Northern Ireland Electric"
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As these companies have detailed proposals (such as Innogy's application for two massive wind farms) up for review, is it right that the guy appointed by the Dept. for Energy and Climate Change has shareholdings in the very same companies? Could this be known as "Pulling a Gore"?

And why is it that you can only get information on anything to do with climate change by suing in court using freedom of information laws? Isn't the idea to spread the truth?
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Have you looked at the previous affiliations and present stockholdings of the U.S. Department of Energy officials? The overwhelming majority have major ties to the fossil fuel industry. That type of industry interest is endemic in ALL government agencies, primarily because that is where the pool of experts comes from. Blind trusts are a partial solution.

As to the freedom of information yes, government types tend to hoard information closely. Cheney wouldn't even say WHO he met with in setting energy policy. The answer to that one's simple - DAYLIGHT GOVERNMENT - wherever and whenever these shennanigans are noted.
 
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