Expert’s death threat follows SNP criticism
Anti-fracking mob abuse professor
A DEATH threat was sent to an energy expert after he tried to tell Scottish ministers that fracking was safe.
Paul Younger, who holds the Rankine Chair of Engineering and is Professor of Energy Engineering at Glasgow University, found himself at the centre of a social media hate campaign which led to a sinister email being sent to a company with which he was linked.
He had to have security guards at lectures and a Glasgow University book launch after the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terror unit was alerted.
Professor Younger had previously complained that SNP ministers treated the expert panel of which he was part as a ‘political football’, after it backed fracking – and found that any environmental concerns could be mitigated.
The abuse started when Nationalist MSP Joan McAlpine highlighted his position as a non-executive director of Five Quarter in November 2014, saying it was ‘important to see the full picture’ about academics’ links to industry when publishing their research.
In fact, Five Quarter, which has since closed, was focused on extraction of gas under the North Sea – a competitor to onshore fracking, on which the expert panel had been asked to report.
Professor Younger’s links to the company had also been made clear by Glasgow University and the Scottish Government.
Following Miss McAlpine’s statement, Professor Younger received a barrage of Twitter abuse, forcing him to close his account. An email to Five Quarters, marked for his attention, read: ‘You are an evil man. Kill yourself and save us the trouble.’
Met Police officers advised him to vary his routes to work, security was put in place and anti-fracking students were questioned.
Professor Younger said: ‘It’s all so depressing that the answer to honest, scientific opinion is that, if it does not suit them, they will find a way of vilifying you or try to discredit what you’re saying. And if that does not work, they resort to death threats.’
He said many young scientists do not want to work with the Scottish Government as they fear their results will be ignored in favour of populism.
Last year, the Government banned genetically modified crops, leading to the Royal Society of Edinburgh warning it risks becoming seen as ‘anti- science’.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she is ‘highly sceptical’ about fracking and the Scottish Government is currently preparing further research ahead of a public consultation in the winter. Chemicals giant Ineos has warned that such posturing – almost two years since Professor Younger’s expert panel reported that fracking could be done safely – has cost Scotland billions.
Professor Younger was an unlikely target for the anti-fracking hate mob, having been
‘Anti-science crusade must end’
heavily involved in green energy. But he now says he will never work for the Scottish Government again and that Miss McAlpine did not make any attempt to contact him following the hateful abuse.
He added: ‘I don’t know if she cares about the level of invective she ramps up. Maybe that doesn’t bother her for a minute, but if you’re on the receiving end it bothers you.’
Scottish Tory energy spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘Once more we see the SNP’s disgraceful campaign of intimidation against those who dare to speak out against it.
‘The SNP need to end their anti-science crusade and start listening to the evidence.’
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The only people responsible for these unacceptable and utterly reprehensible threats are the people who made them.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are carrying out one of the most wideranging research programmes into the environmental, climate change, public health and economic issues associated with fracking in order to fully inform public debate.’