A TORY hardcore are trying to get fracking reconsidered on the back of rising energy prices and widespread calls to boycott Russian gas and oil following Putin’s Ukraine invasion.

Fracking — hydraulic fracturing — means breaking up bedrock to try to liberate oil or gas. It’s polluting, can cause earthquakes and does nothing to stop global warming— which in some weird macho way is why some on the right prefer fracking to wind power or better insulation as better energy solutions.

Pushing fracking is supposed, I think, to look tough and no-nonsense. So it’s worth remembering that the last time British politicians and journalists got enthusiastic for fracking they were the opposite of savvy and in-the-know.

In fact, they all allowed themselves to be taken in by a conman who was sent to prison last year for fraudulently making millions by spreading lies about fracking.

In 2013 a Texan businessman called Chris Faulkner appeared before a British parliamentary committee to give evidence about fracking, saying it was very good and very safe. Faulkner also appeared at another presentation in the Commons sponsored by a Tory MP.

Faulkner also appeared on the BBC — who said he was advising the government on fracking. The BBC said Faulkner was an authority on fracking because his business, Breitling Energy, had many fracked wells.

They said he was such a big deal in fracking in the US that he was known as the “frack master.” Faulkner was given a column in the Guardian to explain why Britain should embrace fracking — and was interviewed by the Sun and Independent, who also called him “the frack master.”

But it was all nonsense. Faulkner was an investment fraudster who got into Parliament and newspapers by hiring a PR company called Chelgate, who arranged events and offered him around to MPs and media. Faulkner was rarely called “the frack master” in the US and had little real experience of the oil industry.

Hs actual business experience included founding the firms BigVideos.com LLC (BigVideos.com once carried the “best selection of high-quality adult DVD movies, anime, hentai, fetish and gay titles”) and Porn Toys Corp.

Faulkner did know how to trick people out of cash. The US Security and Exchange Commission launched their first complaint against Faulkner in 2016 and Faulkner was first arrested in 2018 for fraud. Last September Faulkner was finally sentenced to 15 years in prison for cheating investors out of millions of dollars and hiding money from the taxman. Faulkner was ordered to pay $92.4 million to his victims.

According to court documents, Faulkner raised over $71m for investors for future oil revenue, but he diverted money away from investors by claiming drilling was costing more than it did — inflating prices by as much as 800 percent.
He also presented fiddled geology reports to mislead investors.

Dallas media reported Faulkner admitted diverting approximately $23 million for his own personal benefit, shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time for luxury travel, professional concierge services, maintenance of multiple residences and at least seven vehicles, including an Aston Martin, a Bentley and a Mercedes Benz.

Faulkner was a big fraud — and our frack-enthusiastic MPs and media were the “marks.”