COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Fracking Companies Employing Psy-Ops Specialists for PR Campaigns Against Activists

UPDATE: So this story is from back in November, I’ve been helpfully corrected. That makes it no less disturbing, of course, but FYI.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a disturbing story today about how fracking companies are employing counter-insurgency and psy-ops experts to manage criticism of them from activists and the media.

Marcellus Shale gas drilling spokesmen at an industry conference in Houston said their companies are employing former military counterinsurgency officers and recommended using military-style psychological operations strategies, or psyops, to deal with media inquiries and citizen opposition to drilling in Pennsylvania communities.

Matt Pitzarella, a Range Resources spokesman speaking to other oil and gas industry spokespeople at the conference last week, said the company hires former military psyops specialists who use those skills in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Pitzarella’s statements and related comments made by a spokesman for Anadarko Petroleum were recorded by a member of an environmental group who provided them to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“We have several former psyops folks that work for us at Range because they’re very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments,” Mr. Pitzarella said during the last half of a 23-minute presentation in a conference session. The session was titled “Designing a Media Relations Strategy to Overcome Concerns Surrounding Hydraulic Fracturing.”

Pitzarella tried to cover his tracks by saying that these psy-ops specialists are merely working on local ordinances, nothing spectacular. But then Matt Carmichael, the Anadarko executive, stressed that all industry media operatives should read military counter-insurgency manuals for “tips in dealing with opponents to shale gas development.” An activist got this session on tape.

The writer interviewed a professor of public relations, who said that local campaigns supporting fracking do use misinformation and intimidation, with “informational meetings” that ignore all the negatives from shale gas development, threats of lawsuits toward anyone who gets in the way of the corporations and the like. And, there is in fact a “public affairs specialist” at Range Resources who was previously a member of the “303 Psyop Co.” of the US Army in Pittsburgh.

They say that the military builds skills for life, and now we’re seeing those skills put to use in the private sector. When you create a massive psy-ops and disinformation organization, you shouldn’t be surprised to see corporations poach some of that talent and put the skills employed against foreign citizens to work against Americans. This is as natural as the burgeoning use of drones in domestic law enforcement.

And that’s how you get companies viewing private citizens concerned about the air and water quality in their neighborhoods as “insurgents.” Actually this is quite helpful to understand the mentality involved.