Oil & Gas Industry’s New Strategy: “The public does not believe us…”

Shale Gas Outrage, a public event, in Philly (Sept, 2011) Photo by Josh Lopez

Anti-frackers, THANK YOU! The oil and gas industry has bitten PA hard, you’ve been barking back— and the public is starting to notice. Now perk up those ears more than ever: There’s a new industry strategy: Get someone else to deceive the public for us!

Please share this most important update with any anti-fracking friends that you know, as well as any friends that are open to knowing how the industry is planning to implement upcoming oppressive tactics in response to heightened public awareness: As reported by naturalgaswatch.org, Tisha Conoly-Schuller, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA), said, “I hate to credit the movie Gasland, but it’s really changed the conversation.”

Conoly-Schuller made her comments to a group of shale gas industry executives as the Keynote Speaker on the opening day of the “Enhancing Shale Oil & Gas Development Strategies” conference in Denver, Colorado. She said, “The public does not believe us. We need someone else delivering our message for us.”

While virtuously admitting that there is an emotional element which the public is expressing, she made it clear that the new industry message-deliverers need to target the emotions of the public: “…we’re on emotional turf, and we need to get our point across.”

BEWARE OF SPIN.

Then, she told the industry executives a bulleted-point list of manipulative strategies. Be watching for these as elements of THE NEW SPIN in upcoming advertisements and marketing campaigns. The strategies are basically: messaging facade, misinformation campaign, divide-and-conquer, false generosity, and cultural invasion (she even mentioned South Park!).

Referring to the anti-frack movement, Conoly-Schuller specifically called on executives to spin their choice of words, their critique of anti-frack leaders, sources of anti-frack information, antifrackers’ ages and other demography, and something Conoly-Schuller called empathy at the same time as she said, “These nuts make up about 90 percent of our population, so we can’t really call them nuts any more.”

It won’t work. Why? Because there’s this problem called the truth.

Conoly-Schuller will not be able to get away from the reality that the public has caught on to the fact that fracking is more than just “fracking” and shale gas development can indeed contaminate groundwater. There are plenty more facts that simply are not good for industry PR… but these two alone are enough to awaken one of the most important words in common sense: stop.

Conoly-Schuller all but said, “We need to find someone else to lie for the industry because the public is catching on to the truth.” It’s good to know that she is listening to the barking underdogs. That’s a good signal to bark more often and with greater force! Don’t forget to be reflective. The upcoming new industry spin will require much critical thought to untangle!