Yoko Ono and dozens of other celebrities in her group called Artists Against Fracking may be in trouble with the law for lobbying without registering with the State of New York.
But then again, it's not like attention to detail has been Ono's strong point.
In New York state, any group who spends more than $5,000 on lobbying efforts must register with the state, yet experts claim the group appears to have spent significantly more without being registered in public records. The largest fine for lobbying without being registered to date was $250,000 to Donald Trump.
Even worse is the content of the campaign itself: It’s alarmist, ill-informed, and even borderline obscene. Take this recent music video, in which Yoko Ono and her son sing: "Don't frack my mother, cause I ain't got no other. You can do anything that you want to do, but please don't frack my mother."
It gets worse. The song's bridge features a pro-fracking magician who at one point sings: "Now hold up kid. Listen if you will. You can't tell a man where to stick his drill. The cow don't know what's good for her udders. So I'm going to frack your mother."
Not surprisingly given this juvenile approach to a serious issue, the group also makes false and misleading accusations about fracking’s known impacts. For example, the group claims that fracking endangers ground water, but in the 1.2 million times fracking has been used in the last 60 years, it has never been found to contaminate groundwater.
Ironically, Bjørn Lomborg, author of the bestselling The Skeptical Environmentalist, has called fracking “this decade’s best green-energy option.” Yoko Ono and Artists Against Fracking may want to spend a little less time spreading misinformation and more time double-checking their facts.