[R-G] Tar Sands Lobby Launches PR Offensive

[Anthony Fenton]

http://priceofoil.org/2009/03/12/oil-sands-lobby-launch-pr-offensive/

Tar Sands Lobby Launches PR Offensive
Published by Andy Rowell March 12th, 2009 in Corporate front groups,  
Public Relations, oil sands, tar sands

Appearances, goes the saying, can be deceptive. One of the tactics the  
oil industry has used over the years is the use of “front-groups” to  
promote its cause.  Often these names are deliberately designed to  
confuse people or hide their real intention.

So the Global Climate Coalition was not a coalition of NGOs attempting  
to save the climate, it was an oil front group trying its hardest to  
undermine any international efforts to confront climate change.

The Coalition for Vehicle Choice was not a consumer coalition fighting  
for different vehicle types it was created by the motor industry to  
fight against higher fuel efficiency standards.

So when you see the Center for North American Energy Security (CNAES)  
you know that it is not what it seems. It is not a consumer lobbying  
organisation promoting energy-efficiency it is in fact an oil industry  
front group promoting the use of Canadian tar sands. In fact it used  
to be called the Center for Unconventional Fuels, before someone  
decided that that was obviously too honest a description and it needed  
to be changed.

CNAES has nothing to do with energy efficiency or renewables. It is a  
organisation, in their own words, which is “dedicated to advancing the  
common interests of all five unconventional-fuels segments, wherever  
and however that can be accomplished, in both governmental and private  
sectors.”

CNAES is one of the organisations featured in an illuminating article  
in the Canadian Financial Post yesterday, entitled “Washington big  
guns take up oil sands cause.”

The article stated that “As Alberta’s oil sands industry struggles  
with depressed oil prices and opposition from the environmental  
movement, a new front is emerging to support it — in Washington.”

“From the recently formed Center for North American Energy Security  
(CNAES), headed by former Republican Congressman Tom Corcoran, to the  
American Petroleum Institute (API), some of the world’s major oil   
companies and former U.S. ambassadors to Canada like Gordon Giffin,  
some big guns in Washington’s lobby community are taking up the oil  
sands cause.”

Representing CNAES is the lobbyist Michael Whatley, a partner with HBW  
Resources in Washington  and former chief of staff to former  
Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. Defeated in the 2008 elections,  
Dole accepted $318,346 from oil companies from 2000 to 2008, making  
her one of the top recipients of oil money.

Whatley told the Financial Post that “his group is  borrowing from the  
playbook of the environmental lobby, which does  five things really  
well: It uses consistent messages — no oil, no coal, clean water and  
clean air; it is aggressive and loud; it builds support outside  
Washington, working state governments and foreign  governments; it  
rewards good political behaviour and punishes bad behaviour to the  
point of taking down opponents in election campaigns;  and it recruits  
good allies, such as organized labour or educators.”

Tar sands is now one of the priorities for the American Petroleum  
Industry too. The API’s oil sands message is, according to Jim Ford,  
vice-president of regulatory affairs, “Canada’s our very nearby  
neighbour, we have the most cordial relations that one can have, they  
are already our  largest source of imported oil, and the potential for  
being able to  increase our level of energy security by increasing the  
amount of oil  that we receive from Canada, from our point of view, is  
an attractive prospect”.

Well it is attractive, only if you forget about the ecological and  
cultural devastation caused by its extraction. Not forgetting climate  
change. But watch out for the nice glossy photos of Alberta that hide  
the dirty truth of the tar sands. But then, don’t forget, appearances  
can be deceptive.

Links:

http://www.petroleumequities.com/CNAEShistory.pdf

http://www.financialpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=1375437

http://oilmoney.priceofoil.org/federalRaceGraph.php?type=congress