Anti-wind group plunged into PR crisis

Just days after its launch earlier this month, The National Alliance of Wind Farm Action Groups (NAWAG) has been plunged into a leadership crisis after the resignation of chairman Jon McLeod.

McLeod, employed by PR firm Weber Shandwick, stepped down after sending out a press release promoting the group – set up to protest against wind energy projects – from his work email account in error.

According to reports in this week's Private Eye, the use of the work email account was an issue for the firm, which has positioned itself as a major player in the emerging clean tech market and represents a number of clients in the booming renewables industry, including Viking Energy, which is working on plans for a 153-turbine wind farm in the Shetlands.

Several clients are understood to have been furious that McLeod, chairman of corporate communications and public affairs at Weber Shandwick and one of the firms' most senior lobbyists, was chairing the group.

McLeod took up the NAWAG position in a personal capacity after campaigning against a proposed wind farm near his home in Derbyshire and had planned to help provide the UK's various local anti-wind protest groups with a national platform.

He has issued an apology to his colleagues and clients for mistakenly using his Weber Shandwick email address to send out NAWAG information.

A statement from Weber Shandwick insisted that the company was "deeply committed to environmental responsibility and sustainability; has many clients with a positive environmental agenda; and has taken a lead in our industry on environmental issues".

It added that the company employed a number of former employees at environmentally focused NGOs such as Greenpeace and the Marine Stewardship Council and that its sustainability practice in London is headed by a former NGO chief executive, Brendan May.

However, a spokeswoman for the company could not be drawn on whether its renewable energy clients had protested at McLeod's involvement with NAWAG.

McLeod was not available for comment at the time of publication.