Countering Big Oil and Gas’s PR Machine
Dimock resident Craig Stevens carries a jug of contaminated water from the town at a rally.
This work pitted us against a well-oiled PR machine. In 2010, the oil and gas industry spent $1.2 million lobbying against moratori- um bills in New York, outspending supporters of the bills by 4 to 1. In 2012, ExxonMobil spent $2.1 million in the state on lobbying, making it the second-biggest spender — and $2 million of that was for ads promoting fracking. But the coalition had its own formidable publicity campaign, on top of having the science and the truth on our side. With com- pelling science communicators like Dr. Steingraber elevating the research and our own research on fracking and the industry, we defeated Big Oil and Gas’s messaging and brought the truth to New York and beyond.
“After every trip, particularly standing close to compressor stations, and every time coming home, it was just nausea, fatigue; physically feeling unwell after being surrounded by this incredibly heavy, dangerous, extractive process. You can talk about these things, and it’s great to have the facts — but what really affects people is feeling it, experiencing it, being in the face of a compressor station that's making noise 24/7, putting out toxic emissions all day, every day, for eternity.” Isaac Silberman-Gorn Former organizer with Citizen Action
From 2005 to 2010, the 10 largest natural gas
producers and 2 trade associ- ations spent more than $370 million on lobbying nationwide.
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People Power vs. Fracking 46
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