Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Enter Search Term. Use arrows to navigate between autocomplete results. If no results appear, use Enter to do a full site search.
Forum Closure ×
Canucks Community
Forum Closure

The Shady PR War Unleashed Against Environmentalists Who Oppose Pipeline

freebuddy

By freebuddy
in Off-Topic General

Recommended Posts

freebuddy Abbotsford Star

freebuddy

Posted
Posted

By Steven Rosenfeld

The Shady PR War Unleashed Against Environmentalists Who Oppose Keystone Pipeline

PR giant Edelman lists nine anti-pipeline claims that threaten the project.

November 18, 2014

With possible Canadian oil sand pipeline profits estimated to be in the $100 billion range, its no surprise how low backers will go to smear opponents to win approval. A cache of secret documents prepared in May by Edelman, the worlds largest PR firm, for pipeline developer TransCanada, more than confirms the no-holds-barred mentality the oil industry will use to exploit one of the continents dirtiest energy sources. The documents concern the so-called Energy East pipeline, which would carry oil sands production to eastern Canada; the Keystone XL pipeline would take the same oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

We also recommend continuing to emphasize the term 'natural resources' when possible, instead of oil sands which is perceived negatively, said a lenghty May 2014 strategic plan, in a passage that typfied the double-speak Edelman is unfurling.

Its multiprong campaign also includes demonizing opponents, cultivating local reporters along the pipeline path, creating front groups to exaggerate support and posting online dark content to create an outsized clamour asserting that the climate change-accelerating project is as warm, fuzzy and clean as a newborn's blanket.

These documents show that the pipeline company is planning to adopt the deceitful tactics employed by the oil industry in the U.S. to attack environmental advocates, said Travis Nichols of Greenpeace USA, one of Edelmans and TransCanadas targets.

The documents, written between May and August 2014, lay out a strategy to, 'Add layers of difficulty for our opponents, distracting them from their mission and causing them to redirect their resources by recruiting third parties to do and say things when TransCanada cant, Nichols wrote, quoting the documents. They identify over 40 Edelman staff people and 9 TransCanada staff people who will work on the campaign, which is led from Edelmans DC office. The advertising and pro-Energy East advocacy website described in the documents have already been launched.

This is the same playbook created by one of Americas most notorious corporate lobbyists, Richard Berman, who was secretly taped in June at a Colorado meeting for the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking segment of the oil and gas industry, where he described how it was necessary to demonize, belittle, mock, personally attack, and smear opponents in what is an endless publicity battle for corporate profit-making.

Whats especially intriguing in the Edelman documents is that they list many of the very strong anti-Keystone arguments being used by opponents in the United States and Canada including those heard in Tuesdays U.S. Senate debate. It similarly lists the pro-pipeline script, which centers on the four agreed-upon campaign platforms of Safety; Environmental Stewardship; Economic Benefits and Jobs; and National (or Strategic) Interest.

Here are the nine anti-pipeline arguments cited by Edelman it says (pages 28-to-29) are seriously threatening and must be neutralized with pro-corporate spin:

The marine terminal at Cacouna will be a threat to the survival of the beluga [whale] in the St. Lawrence River.

The risk of spills is great; the number of pipeline leaks has tripled over the last 10 years.

In the event of a leak or spill, the clean water supply could be seriously compromised.

Oil from oil sands is more toxic, therefore, more difficult to clean in the event of a spill.

Quebec will profit very little from the project, as jobs created will be essentially for the construction period; there will not be gas reductions at the gas pumps as it wont reduce our dependence on foreign oil, particularly as Quebec refineries arent equipped for processing the heavy Western oil.

The project would seriously contribute to a worsening climate crisis, since the exploitation of the oil sands represent the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. They estimate that the project would generate additional greenhouse gas emission of between 30 and 32 million tons per yeartharts to say the equivalent of having 7 million more cars on our roads.

The project threatens considerable amounts of arable land, something thats been on the decline for a few years now in Quebec.

TransCanada is not a company for which safety is a priority.

TransCanadas control center is in Calgary and will have issues insuring the pipelines safety in Quebec.

Many of these are the same arguments made by U.S. pipeline opponents just swap the references to locations, local ecosystems and economics.

Edelman will host daily conference calls to monitor and then rebut any news report whenever these anti-pipeline arguments are made, the document said on page 28. That response includes having a zero-tolerance policy for what it deems to be misinformation in the media. The TransCanada PR team said it would seek to respond to any negative press within an hour of seeing the coverage, primarily by having selected spokespeople call reporters and editors.

Environmentalists have been clear on why we oppose the Energy East pipeline, said Greenpeace USAs Nichols. We believe that the threat posed by this pipeline is an unnecessary one because we have better options available to us to meet our energy needs.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/shady-pr-war-unleashed-against-environmentalists-who-oppose-keystone-pipeline?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

Link to comment
Share on other sites
freebuddy Abbotsford Star

freebuddy

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah that made me LOL just a little bit.

Crude futures for January delivery down a further 10% in 24 hours. That's after hitting 4 year lows the day before.

Nothing to see here folks. Go on about your Black Friday shopping.

Yeah, don't say anything about the covering up of the truth by the PR firm.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jägermeister Canucks Star

Jägermeister

Posted
Posted

Why don't you tell me what you think they're supposed to be doing if you think I'm wrong

Uhhh, this IS what a PR firm is supposed to be doing.

Here, give this a read:

https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/marketing-communications-17/public-relations-105/the-purpose-of-public-relations-495-8086/

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kragar Canucks First-Line

Kragar

Posted
Posted

Where does it say that they have to do the job for their opposition? Are they doing anything worse than what Gruber did with Obamacare?

Some people are for it, some are against it, and PR firms get hired to send out a desired message. we used to be able to count on news media for the truth, but that's been off the table for years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
freebuddy Abbotsford Star

freebuddy

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Where does it say that they have to do the job for their opposition? Are they doing anything worse than what Gruber did with Obamacare?

Some people are for it, some are against it, and PR firms get hired to send out a desired message. we used to be able to count on news media for the truth, but that's been off the table for years.

Yes, more media outlets should report what the PR firm and the oil industry are trying to suppress, I agree.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...