New Gas Industry Astroturf: Landowner Advocates of NY Buses Activists to Albany Pro-Fracking Rally

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A pro-fracking rally held on Oct. 15 in Albany, NY was described by about a dozen local media outlets as a gathering of roughly 1,000 grassroots activistsย from all walks ofย life.

All came out to add their voice to the conversation regarding the extraction of unconventional gas from the Marcellus Shale basin in New York state. But the marchers weren’t concerned landowners worried about losing their water supplies or property values. Their demand: to lift the current moratorium on fracking, which wasย prolonged by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sept. 30.

One rally attendee, Doug Lee, described the ongoing fracking moratorium as a โ€œcommunist actโ€ to theย Albany Times-Union. Another described anti-fracking activistsย as โ€œwell-funded and organized activists masquerading as environmentalists, who often do not need to make a living in our communities.โ€ย Republican Sen. Tom Libous,ย observed that Hollywood stars Mark Ruffalo and Debra Winger weren’t on the scene,ย telling themย toย โ€œStay in Hollywood. We don’t want youย here.โ€

Unmentioned by any of the news outlets that covered the event was a crucial fact: these weren’t actual โ€œgrassrootsโ€ activists, but rather astroturf out-of-towners bused in from counties all across the state. Their journey was paid for by the legitimately โ€œwell-fundedโ€ oil and gas industry, which raked inย profits of $1 trillion in the past decade.ย 

According to the Associated Press, the pro-fracking rally and march were organized by a brand new front groupย called theย Landowner Advocates of New Yorkย formed in the immediate aftermath of the recent Cuomo decision to stall on opening the frackingย floodgates.

The well-knownย industry front group, Energy in Depthย (EID), announced the launch of the Landowner Advocates of New York in anย Oct. 3 blog post, mere days after theย Cuomo announcement.ย Lee (the same man who accused Cuomo of partaking in a โ€œcommunist actโ€ by extending the fracking moratorium) wrote about the rationale behind the group’s genesis – which he is the head of and whichย he registered the websiteย for – in theย EID post announcing theย Landowner Advocates’ย launch:

The urban eliteโ€ฆare more interested in preserving scenic beauty and tranquility of the rural areas than allowing the farmers to make a living. Environmental preservation is a perfect excuse for imposing restrictions on private landย use.

(Snip)

To protect private property rights, and to educate the public on the truth behind shale gas development, the Landowner Advocates of New York (LANY) wasย formed.

The next day, EID published anotherย blog postย promoting what it called the โ€œTruth and Energy Rally.โ€

Other endorsers of the Landowner Advocates of NY‘s โ€œReal People, Real Jobs Rallyโ€ (an apparent alternative name) included the likes of America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), the American Petroleum Institute (API), the New York State Petroleum Council (the state-level version of API), and theย Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA) of NY.

Asย exposed byย DeSmogBlogย in Feb. 2011, EID was formed with the financial grace of API along with numerous other multinational oil and gas corporations, the very same ones funding ANGA and IOGA.ย 

A group with a similar name, theย Joint Landowners Coalition of New Yorkย (JLCNY)ย alsoย helped promote the rally, organizingย bus pick-ups on a statewide basis,ย according to a Google Cache search. The registered agent for the JLCNY website isย Bryant Tourette, owner of anย Oxford, NY-based printing company called Rapid Reproductions, according to hisย LinkedIn pageย (where he goes by the name Bryant La Tourette). A targetted Google search shows Tourette is aย ubiquitousย commenterย on theย EID Marcellusย blog.ย 

Getting to the root of the issue: this a new well-coordinated campaign by the oil industry to create various front groups, with EID serving as the effort’s centerpiece. Groups like LANY and JLOCNY are merely astroturf spin-offs of EID – an industry front group itself – helping to provide the veneer of widespread grassroots support for fracking in New Yorkย state.

Put another way, the Landowner Advocates of New York is a front group of a frontย group.

As John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton wrote in their seminal book โ€œTrust Us We’re Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Futureโ€:

Public relations firms and corporations have seized upon a slick new way of getting you to buy what they have to sell: Let you hear it from a neutral โ€œthird party,โ€ like a professor or a pediatrician or a soccer mom or a watchdog group. The problem is, these third parties are usually anything but neutral. They have been handpicked, cultivated, and meticulously packaged to make you believe what they have toย say.

For the oil and gas industry’s public relations operatives, it’s just another day at the office running the tobacco playbook. Set up another front group to create the illusion of support for more anti-science, anti-health activity.

Will the good folks of the Empire State buy this pack of lies about fracking? Or will they send the astroturfers and their smoke and mirrorsย packing?

Image Credit:ย Vividz Fotoย |ย ShutterStock

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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