"Miracle of American Oil": Continental Resources Courted Corporate Media to Sell Oil Exports

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A documentย published by the Public Relations Society of America,ย discovered by DeSmog,ย reveals that from the onset of its public relations campaign, the oil industry courted mainstream media reporters to help it sell the idea of lifting the ban on crude oil exports to the American public andย policymakers.

Calling its campaign the โ€œMiracle of American Oil,โ€ the successful PRย effort to push for Congress and the White House to lift the oil exports ban was spearheaded by Continental Resources, a company known as the โ€œKing of the Bakkenโ€ shale oil basin and founded by Harold Hamm. Hamm served as energy advisor to 2012 Republican Party presidential candidate Mittย Romney.

Miracle of American Oil

Image Credit: Public Relations Society ofย America

The campaign launched on December 16, 2013, the 40th anniversary of theย Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo, and won the prestigious PRSA Silver Anvil Award.

According to the document, submitted to PRSA to detail the logistics and reach of the PR effort, it was โ€œdesigned to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies โ€” at the local, state or federal governmentย levels.โ€

And it all began with a kick-off dinner inย Washington, D.C., hosted by Continental Resources and attended by some of the most influential mainstream media energy reporters in the Unitedย States.

Regular readers of the Washington oil and gas industry beat will find the names of the dinner attendees, disclosed in the document,ย familiar.

Miracle of American Oil

Image Credit: Public Relations Society ofย America

โ€œThe campaign not only served as a catalyst to correct public misconceptions, but it also propelled crude oil exports to the top of the U.S. Senateโ€™s agenda,โ€ Continental boasted on the PRSAย document.ย 

While the document fails to note when and where the dinner unfolded,ย Amy Harder, one of the reporters in attendance, revealed theย details.

In a December 20 Wall Street Journal article offering an overview and inside look at the industry’s exports crusade, Harder revealed that the dinner took place at Washington, D.C.’s ostentatious 5-star Hay-Adams Hotel in October 2013 and Harold Hamm attended theย meeting.ย 

Harder ended up publishing twoย exports articlesย favorable to the industry’s point of view in the few months after being invited to the exclusive Hay-Adams Hotelย dinner.ย 

Asked for more details about the dinner, Harder told DeSmog via email that she did not โ€œfeel comfortable sharing with you any more information about the dinner,โ€ also denying her attendance there shaped the slant of herย articles.

One of Harder’s articles published in January 2014ย offers more dinner details, noting itย โ€œwas orยญganยญized by the Doยญmestยญic Enยญergy Proยญduยญcers Alยญliยญanceโ€ (DEPA) and attended by โ€œothยญer doยญmestยญic-enยญergy exยญecยญutยญivesโ€ beyond justย Hamm.

DEPA has spent $75,000 lobbying for Congress to lift the oil exports ban in 2015, according to lobbying disclosure forms reviewed byย DeSmog.


U.S. Rep. Martin Frost; Photo Credit:ย Wikimediaย Commons

One of the lobbyistsย deployed by DEPA,ย David Craneย ofย Quadripoint Strategies LLC, formerly worked as senior policy advisor for U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and U.S. Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS). DEPA also deployed formerย U.S. Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX)ย toย lobby on its behalfย on theย issue.

The DEPA coalition has also given U.S. Sen. Heidiย Heitkamp (D-ND) $10,000 inย campaignย moneyย since the 2014 electoral cycle, the first campaign cycle of her first term that began in January 2013.ย Heitkamp has positioned herself asย among the most outspokenย members of Congress in support of lifting theย ban.

DEPA hasย alsoย utilized the โ€œmiracleโ€ language in itsย advocacyย materialsย associated with the push to lift the oil exportsย ban.

Months after the dinner, Hamm testifiedย at a hearing in front of the U.S. Senateย Energy and Natural Resources Committee, calling for an end to the oil exports ban. Metadata from that testimony reviewed by DeSmog shows his speech was written by the then-director of public relations for Continental, Mary Ann Osko.

Harold Hamm Oil Exports

Image Credit: U.S. Senateย Energy and Natural Resourcesย Committee

According to a story published by Bloomberg, Hamm โ€œvisited Capitol Hill almost weekly and testified at some of the at least nine congressional hearings onย exports.โ€

Rebranding Fracking: โ€œHorizontalย Drillingโ€

Continental also made a concerted effort to pivot away from using the term โ€œfracking,โ€ opting instead to use term โ€œhorizontal drillingโ€ to describe the hydraulic fracturingย technique.

โ€œThe PR teamโ€™s objectives to showcase the benefits of Americaโ€™s oil and natural gas renaissance, change the vernacular from fracking to horizontal drilling, and launch crude oil exports to the top of the U.S. policy agenda were all achieved,โ€ explained Continental in the documentย (emphasis added).ย 

Continental’s diction choice has a basis in the scholarly literature on theย topic.

A July 2013 survey-based study by Louisiana State University (LSU) Public Policy Research Lab professorsย concludedย that โ€œthe unpleasant sound of the word ‘Fracking’ might be partially responsible for view of the safety of the processโ€ and that those โ€œwho did not hear the wordโ€ฆare more likely to say they think the process isย safe.โ€

An earlier study done by the PR firmย Gregory FCA came to similarย conclusions.ย 

โ€œThe very term ‘fracking’ has a negative connotationโ€ฆThe industry needs to identify negatively charged words and replace them with positive language,โ€ reads a February 2011 Gregory FCA blog post. โ€œThe industry needs to control the story by controlling the lexicon through creative, positive words that tell a vivid story and lock out the language ofย critics.โ€

Hamm used the term โ€œhorizontal drillingโ€ five times during his January 2014 congressional testimony and an additional four times in a Forbes opinion piece Hamm published advocating for a lift of the U.S. oil exportsย ban.

The company also emphasized that this is a โ€œrenaissanceโ€ and not a โ€œboomโ€ in its PR efforts. Boomsย often go bust, as we haveย shown on DeSmogย repeatedly, most recently in the case ofย where the Bakken may be headed.

Continental representatives also repeatedly used the term โ€œrenaissanceโ€ in media appearances, duringย state-level and federal-level legislative testimony, at public speaking events, on a company earnings call, and on the company’s website.

DEPAย also utilizes the โ€œrenaissanceโ€ language on its advocacy website, PowerPoint presentations, press releases, newspaper editorials and in letters written to policymakers. DEPA had little to say in response to questions sent via email byย DeSmog.

โ€œI can tell you that DEPA is very proud of the bipartisan work to educate we have done and will continue to do regarding all forms of energy,โ€ย Peter Regan, DEPA‘s executive director, toldย DeSmog.

Continentalย Responds

Lifting the oil exports ban is something Oil Change International called tantamount to cooking the climate, an analysis also shared by the Center for Biological Diversity andย others.

But when asked by DeSmog if Continental believed climate change was an issue, Kristin Thomas,ย vice president of public relations for Continental,ย said the company โ€œdoesn’t take an official position on the issue.โ€

Instead, Thomas pointed to Continental’s corporate responsibility report, which does not mention climate change or global warming.ย Climate change impacts of lifting the export ban, unsurprisingly, did not make it into Continental’s PR narrative pitch toย reporters.

Thomas also denied that the PR campaign was, at its core, geared toward gaining Continental and the oil industry favorableย publicity.ย 

โ€œThis is not about seeking press coverage to portrayย someoneย in a positive light,โ€ she said in an email. โ€œThis is a topic thatย wasย andย isย veryย important.โ€

Maura Stephens, associate director of the Park Center for Independent Journalism at Ithaca College,ย disagrees.

โ€œSome mainstream reporters are obviously being directed by their editors and producers to simply parrot whatever industry spokespersons and corrupt politicians say,โ€ Stephens toldย DeSmog.

โ€œAnd apparently U.S. policymakers are incapable of or disinterested in distinguishing between PR propaganda and scientific and economic evidence. This type of travesty highlights how critical to democracy it is that more people tune into independent, non-corporate-run newsย sources.โ€

Image Credit: Shutterstock |ย Aleksandarย Mijatovic

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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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