What the world does not understand about shale gas development could fill vast libraries. Ignorance alone is not a problem, but ignorance combined with alarming misinformation rapidly leads to headaches for producers.

Typically the industry has dealt with landowners and governmental bodies in its attempts to find reserves. But, given the fact that some of the biggest shale plays are in urban and suburban areas, the general public is now involved. With some of the misinformation that is being picked up by the general media, pressure is mounting on governments to step in and mitigate imaginary problems.

The industry has fought a poor public image for years without any obvious success in battling back. With so many constituents and not much central organization, it has been left to a few independent entities to try to spread the message while the battle rages.

Recently there has been positive movement, partly because industry groups are educating themselves about their opposition’s tactics. The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), for instance, has launched Energy In Depth (EID), a website that not only provides factual information about the industry but actively looks for misinformation and corrects it. The media and the public are starting to take notice.

A recent rally to ‘protect Dimock’s drinking water’ in Dimock, Pa., had only a handful of participants. (Image courtesy of Energy In Depth)

A need for speed

EID was developed in response to a document called “Drilling Down” that was presented to Congress Oct. 31, 2008. “We call it the ‘Halloween hearing,’” said Jeff Eshelman, vice president, public affairs for IPAA. “The document was basically a wish list from groups like the National Resources Defense Council to regulate the oil and gas industry.”

The then-Democratic congress was, he said, “showing some willingness to adopt it.” Concerned about the impact this could have on the country’s independents, IPAA and some of its coordinating associations decided that a response was needed. The response became Project BRIEF (bring real information on energy forward).

Project BRIEF also got attention, partly for the economic impact that Drilling Down would have on the industry and the US:

204,272 oil wells shut in (first year alone);

150,202 natural gas wells shut in;

183,000 b/d of lost oil production;

670 MMcf/d of lost gas production;

US $602 million in foregone royalties;

$285 million in foregone state severance taxes;

$505 million in foregone state income taxes;

$1.2 billion in foregone federal income taxes; and

$10 billion in industry compliance costs in the first

year alone.

Project BRIEF quickly developed into EID, a full-scale communications and outreach program that acts as a clearinghouse and message center for information on energy. “It’s not just external,” Eshelman said. “It’s also an internal campaign to be sure the industry is on mes- sage and has the correct facts. We don’t want our spokespeople caught off guard.”

One of the key targets for education is the general media. “EID is a product to keep us in constant contact with news reports,” he said. “It establishes our organization as a go-to source. We need to be proactive.”

With media going digital, it is much harder to keep tabs on what is being written, blogged, and tweeted. “There’s less accuracy,” he said. “We need to be ready with a rapid response, and that has been one of the program’s strong points.”

Eshelman and his counterparts do not rely solely on the EID website to spread the word. Prior to the FRAC Act that was introduced in 2009, they began to call on media contacts. “We called hundreds of reporters, really pounding the phone,” he said. “They were asking us, ‘Why are you calling about something we’ve never heard of?’ We told them there was going to be a firestorm of legislation hitting Washington. It worked.”

More recently the EID crowd has made Josh Fox, producer of the documentary “Gasland,” a pet project. “When he debuted ‘Gasland,’ we started really ‘chasing the Fox,’” he said. “We went wherever he would go, and it really frustrated him.” This included calls to the producers of Dylan Ratigan’s show on MSNBC and “The Daily Show,” where Fox was scheduled to be interviewed. “Apparently he was furious after the Dylan Ratigan show,” Eshelman said. “I think we’re getting on his nerves.”

The national program has proven so successful that IPAA has been asked to take it local. Already there is EIDMarcellus.org , and a site for the Utica shale in Ohio was announced in late September.

The program also is paying off with the people in the regions who are most directly affected by shale development. “There are people in Pennsylvania who like what they’re seeing,” he said. “But the opposition is so well-organized and vocal. They’re effective in putting a program together on the ground.”

Happy landowners

To the outside observer, it sometimes seems like every resident of Pennsylvania and New York is attending endless rallies defending their right to clean water. According to one New York landowner, the truth is rather different.

Bryant La Tourette owns about 120 acres of land near Oxford, NY. He attended a recent rally in Dimock, Pa., the “epicenter” of the polluted water outcry, where three residents have filed suit against Cabot Oil and Gas claiming that its fracing operations have sullied their water wells.

“There was a well-publicized rally to ‘protect Dimock’s water,’” La Tourette said. “That’s an important statement.

“When we got there, there were about 15 people at the rally to protest this. I asked how many of them were from Pennsylvania. All the hands went up. I know that six of them are from New York. See that – right off the bat we start with misinformation.”

He compared this to a rally against a proposed toxic waste dump in his hometown, at which 50% of the residents showed up in force. “If there had been 700 people at the Dimock rally, it would have changed my mind instantly.”

La Tourette is not exactly an EID convert – he said most landowners in the area became “converts” when they realized they were sitting on top of one of the world’s largest hydrocarbon reserves. But despite local efforts to organize coalitions, the landowners in favor of development found themselves up against a very well-organized opposition and reporters who would interview them but not give them ink or air time.

“The EID has been fantastic because they were able to put together a group of generalists who have been able to take the false stories and debunk them,” he said.

La Tourette is part of a group of about nine “shock bloggers” who seek out the negative sites and go after the falsehoods. “All we do is ask them questions, and they back themselves into a corner,” he said. “We’re at this every day.”

For more information, visit Energyindepth.org.

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