In the years prior to 2009, opponents of oil and natural gas companies were mostly local people irked by the sudden clamor of noise, lots of dust, big trucks and unfamiliar faces. But things have changed.

Since 2009, ideological groups -- not local residents -- have grown to dominate opposition to oil and gas companies by using disputed information to drum up conflict, said David Blackmon, managing director of FTI Consulting in Houston and an industry advocate. He spoke at the IPPA/Tipro Leaders in Industry luncheon in Houston on Oct. 10.

“Their fundraising efforts depend on the perpetuation of conflict,” Blackmon said. “These groups work constantly, 24 hours a day, to reduce public confidence in what we do.”

Prior to 2009, the industry’s main source of dustups, about 90%, came from local residents, he said. Ideological groups such as the Sierra Club and regulations such as the Safe Drinking Water Act accounted for the remaining 10 % of pushback.

However, by 2009-2010, local opposition had dipped to 60% and ideological opposition climbed to 40%, Blackmon said. By 2010-2011, the percentages flipped. Ideological groups made up 65% of the industry’s rivals.

“Well over 70% of the negative information and untrue information targeted at our industry comes from green groups or anti-development groups,” he said.

Blackmon’s FTI Consulting provides strategic communications firm for IPAA and the oil and gas advocacy group Energy In Depth (EID). Launched in 2009, EID says on its website that its goal is to provide facts about responsible development of onshore energy, particularly oil and natural gas, from shale and other sources.

Blackmon advocates calling the green and environmental groups “anti-development conflict groups.” Many, he said, are interested in wind and solar power, which he says are not yet capable of sustained power needs.

“Their whole goal is to prevent human development,” Blackmon added.

The faces of the opposition, he said, include the “usual suspects” and a few less obvious ones:

- Actor Robert Redford.
- Lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Texas state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth.
- The Natural Resources Defense Council and TXSharon, or Sharon Wilson, a vocal critic who says on her website that the industry tries to discredit her by calling her a “left-wing lunatic with a socialist agenda.”
- And even the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., which has come out against hydraulic fracturing.

EID’s strategy takes a page from President Bill Clinton’s campaign playbook: Don’t go to bed until every opposition point is addressed, Blackmon said.
Emphasis should be placed on holding opponents of hydraulic fracturing to account “for the false statements that they make,” he said.

Companies also need to go beyond the minimum regulatory requirements and be seen as good corporate citizens concerned about protecting the environment, he said. They should also explain the industry’s role in creating a large portion of jobs and economic benefits.

He urged companies to participate in local town halls, connect with school superintendents and local elected leaders, and reach out to the media to get the industry’s points of view out to their audience.

“The reality is that our audience now is not just landowners and the regulators. It’s the whole general public. And we have to be cognizance of that.”