The energy company Entergy has hired yet another public relations firm to promote its Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. Entergy's new firm is the Breaux Lott Leadership Group, which will "deal with nuclear issues as the license of its Indian Point facility ... is up for renewal." The firm's leadership, former U.S. Senators John Breaux and Trent Lott, will work on the Entergy account, along with their sons. Previously, Entergy retained the major firm Burson-Marsteller, to work on "Indian Point issues" and "the overall image of the company." Last year, Entergy hired the Potomac Communications Group to promote its "Independent Safety Evaluation" panel for the Indian Point plant. "A round of raucous public hearings is expected" as part of Indian Point's license renewal application, reports O'Dwyer's.

An executive with the French government-owned energy company EDF "has been charged on suspicion of spying on the environmental group Greenpeace." The executive, "who previously worked as a police commander, is being investigated for conspiring to hack into Greenpeace France's computer system." Under investigation is whether EDF, "the world's biggest nuclear-reactor operator, hired a private detective agency run by a former member of the French secret services to illegally spy on environmentalists and infiltrate their ranks." EDF confirmed that it hired the firm, Kargus Consultants, but denies "ordering the use of any illegal spying methods." A Kargus employee admitted that he hacked into the computer system used by Greenpeace France's campaigns director in 2006. Greenpeace thinks the spying "could have been related to their campaign to block EDF's construction of a vast, new generation nuclear reactor in Flamanville" in northern France. Greenpeace France is tightening office security and saying the incident "shows just how frightened the nuclear industry is of transparency and a democratic debate." EDF recently bought British Energy and "nearly half of U.S. group Constellation Energy's nuclear power business ... in order to build power plants in Britain and the United States," according to Reuters.

Georgia Power, a subsidiary of the energy utility Southern Power, has mounted an intensive lobbying campaign for legislation that would allow it to bill customers now for as much as $2 billion of the $14 billion price tag of two new nuclear reactors proposed for the Vogtle power station. The utility, notes Associated Press reporter Shannon McCaffrey, has employed five lobbyists, used its four in-house lobbyists, and paid for meals for the House Republican leadership, House Democrats and the executive committee of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. McCaffrey's article was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the day before it published an opinion column by former Greenpeace activist turned PR consultant Patrick Moore. Moore, who enthusiastically championed Georgia Power's case, was simply described as the "co-chairman of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition'' which supports "increased use of nuclear energy." The paper didn't disclose that the coalition was created and is funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), and that Georgia Power is one of NEI's members (pdf).

The usually-stellar Pacifica news show "Democracy Now!" is the latest in a long list of media outlets that have quoted or featured Greenpeace activist turned industry consultant Patrick Moore on nuclear power issues, without disclosing that he's paid by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). When introducing Moore, host Amy Goodman noted his past association with Greenpeace and simply said he "now serves as co-chair of the pro-nuclear Clean and Safe Energy Coalition." The other guest during the segment, anti-nuclear activist Harvey Wasserman, briefly mentioned that Moore has "signed up with the nuclear power industry," but there was no follow-up or clarification on that point. As the Columbia Journalism Review pointed out back in 2006, "Part of [NEI's] thinking, surely, was that the press would peg" Moore and fellow NEI consultant Christine Todd Whitman "as dedicated environmentalists who have turned into pro-nuke cheerleaders, rather than as paid spokespeople."

In 2007, Britain's Advertising Standards Authority censured Shell for misleading advertising -- once for ads calling tar sands development "sustainable," and once for ads showing carbon dioxide emissions stimulating flower growth. Shell's new ads, designed by JWT, are also controversial. One ad reads, "We need to get at some of the 'difficult oil' trapped in sand, rock and in the deepest seas," using "breakthrough technology." Another new ad says Shell is "investigating innovative new engine fuels." Greenpeace says the ads are designed to "hide the fact" that Shell "is actually going backward," by heavily investing in Canada's tar sands. Tar sands are the dirtiest source of oil, resulting in about three times the greenhouse gas emissions of traditional oil fields and contaminating large volumes of water. Shell's ad agency, JWT, claims that the Advertising Standards Authority doesn't understand the energy business. In Japan, the Advertising Review Organization ruled that an ad calling nuclear power "a clean way to generate electricity" is misleading. The panel told the power association to either come up with a different slogan or add mention of safety issues related to nuclear reactors.

There's an aphorism that journalists should "follow the money," but it is sobering to see how few do. Bruce Erskine, a business reporter for the Chronicle Herald in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, reports on a keynote speech to the annual general meeting of the Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia by former Greenpeace activist turned industry PR consultant Patrick Moore. In a single-source story, Erskine writes that Moore has "run afoul of many in the environmentalist camp for seeking a middle road on the sustainable energy issue by, among other things, supporting the forestry industry." He also reports that Moore argued that "environmentalists who oppose nuclear and hydro power are contributing to the greenhouse gas problem," and quoted him as stating that "we can all switch over, if we want to, from using gas for heating our house to using a ground-source heat pump running on clean electrical energy." What wasn't disclosed was that Moore is a PR consultant to the Nuclear Energy Institute's front group, the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition. Nor was it disclosed that Moore is a Director of NextEnergy, a company that sells home-scale geothermal heating.

The British government's second public consultation on nuclear power, "which was run by a company linked to the Prime Minister's personal pollster," has been criticized for material that was "inaccurately or misleadingly presented." In response to a complaint from the environmental group Greenpeace, Britain's Market Research Standards Board ruled that the Opinion Leader firm presented "imbalanced" information that risked leading focus group participants "towards a particular answer." Prime Minister Gordon Brown's pollster, Deborah Mattinson, used to co-chair the firm and "remains a senior figure in its parent company." The Brown government supports building new nuclear plants. The Liberal Democrat energy spokesman said the Standards Board ruling "shows that the Government isn't even competent enough to rig its own consultation." The Brown government says the ruling won't affect its nuclear plans, declaring that "the outcome of the consultation stands." The second consultation was launched after Britain's High Court ruled the government's first consultation on nuclear power a "sham."

Like many others, New York Times journalist Larry Rohter describes former Greenpeace activist-turned-industry consultant Patrick Moore as "the co-chairman of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a pro-nuclear group." (Two weeks earlier, Rohter co-authored a blog post that used an identical description of Moore.) What Rohter doesn't mention is that the coalition is a front group funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). After referring to Moore, Rohter notes that NEI is broadly supportive of plans such as Republican Presidential candidate John McCain's commitment to build 45 new nuclear power stations. An announcement for an upcoming CNBC special on nuclear power makes a similar mistake. The announcement describes Moore as an "environmentalist" who "supports America's nuclear revival and tells CNBC why he's made this stunning about face." Maybe because that's what he's paid to do?