Via commenter Tomo, we learn that windfarm millionaire Dale Vince was funding Frack-free Balcombe's application for judicial review of West Sussex County Council's decision to grant planning permission to Cuadrilla.
Great news – we now have all the money we need for our judicial review. Last week we explained how we needed to have £10,000 available in the event of our losing the judicial review and having to pay WSCC’s costs. Ecotricity has kindly stepped forward and sent us £10,000. FFBRA will hold this in our bank account ring fenced to either return in the event we win our judicial review or to use to pay any costs awarded against us if we lose. This is tremendous news.
Who are Ecotricity? Ecotricity, founded in 1995 as the world’s first green energy company, are the only energy company that has pledged to be shale gas ‘frack-free,’ now and forever. The company thinks fracking is an unnecessary risk and are actively supporting the anti-fracking movement in Britain. Ecotricity have a unique not-for-dividend model, so instead of paying any shareholders they are free to reinvest the money from customer bills into building new sources of green energy – what they call turning ‘bills into windmills’. They now power around 120,000 homes and business from their growing fleet of wind and sun parks, and are developing a Green Gas alternative to fracking in Britain.
There are some interesting business ethics being demonstrated here by Ecotricity's chairman Dale Vince. I'm not sure that paying green activists to disrupt your competitors would generally be seen as a legitimate tactic. But if it is, perhaps it's time for big oil to start funding windfarm protestors.