Suspected spoof Power Line blog makes laughing stock of anti-green lobby group

A mysterious new anti-green energy lobby group called the Power Line caused widespread bemusement among industry watchers on Friday.

It launched a blog with the strapline “CO2. They call it pollution, we call it life” and tweeted its mission statement to “stop Britain sleepwalking into blackouts and soaring energy bills”.

Claiming to represent a wide range of (unnamed) business and consumer groups, it called for cancellation of carbon tax, “or at least reinvestment of the revenue into fossil fuels”.

In a release on the blog, spokesman Phil Stephens said: “CO2 is our lifeblood, it’s what we breathe out and plants breathe in. Green groups call it pollution, but we call it life. It’s time to end the war on a harmless gas.”

Twitter commentators speculated that the site was a spoof, designed to undermine the similarly-targeted “Powerline” campaign (note all one word) featured in the Sunday Times.

Jessica Lennard, head of energy public affairs at consultancy Edelman, tweeted: “C’mon @GreenpeaceUK, @wwf_uk, @wwwfoecouk, fess up, which of you has invented @powerline_uk to make anti-green lobbyists look stupid?”

Bloomberg New Energy Finance founder Michael Liebrich commented: “Striking how amateurish @Powerline_UK is, for a campaign supposedly backed by big business. I suspect it’s just a bunch of cranks.”

Even shale gas lobbyist and renewable sceptic Nick Grealy was unconvinced, tweeting: “Proves how utterly gullible UK “quality” press are if they fall for this one. Waste of pixels.”

However, the Power Line account insisted: “The only spoof here is @DECCgovuk energy policy. Will lead to desert of lost jobs and soaring bills #cheapenergynow”

It failed to respond to repeated requests to name its members saying all would be revealed in a “multi-million pound, high profile publicity campaign”.

Watch this space.