No Fracking Way

United Shale Advocates

FRACKERS REBRANDING FRACKING

September 25, 2014
FRACKERS REBRANDING FRACKING

When a product or corporation takes a hit in public opinion, one of the steps that will be taken is to change their name or roll out a rebranding campaign. Led by their front group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), frackers are rebranding fracking. Or to put it another way, they are putting a pretty red bow on a pile of poop. How much are they spending on this fracking rebranding campaign? They won’t say. It’s proprietary, hush hush, in the same fashion as the super-double secret ingredients in the chemicals used in fracking. With the blessings of the Heritage Foundation, a right wing think tank, the fracking ad campaign feature actors , including a little girl, saying “ Fracking’s a good word”, “Fracking Rocks” and “Fracking: Rock Solid for […]

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UNITED SHALE ASTROTURF

June 27, 2014
UNITED SHALE ASTROTURF

With much fanfare and political photo-ops, the media was flooded with stories about a new pro-natural gas “grassroots” group back in march 2014. The name of the group is United Shale Advocates (USA). As was pointed out in GASROOTS – United Shale Advocates is far from being a grassroots organization. It’s gas-roots, or more to the point ASTROTURF. Astroturf groups are industry backed groups posing as “Grass”roots. In other words, just as Astroturf is fake grass, Astroturf groups are fake grassroots groups. More proof was found today in the form of a “Robo-email Blasts” urging members to write their legislators. They even tell the members what to write. Many gas-roots Astroturf groups, industry spokespeople, and supporters have accused Fracktivist groups of using Robo-email Blasts in the past. Somehow, when a […]

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When USA Means “United (Frack) Shills of America”: The Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Big Gas Parade, May 6th 2014, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

May 3, 2014
When USA Means "United (Frack) Shills of America": The Marcellus Shale Coalition's Big Gas Parade, May 6th 2014, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Originally posted at The Wrench: THE WRENCH: When USA Means “United (Frack) Shills of America”: The Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Big Gas Parade, May 6th 2014, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania I remember a time-not all that long ago- when the Marcellus Shale Coalition promoted itself as a largely neutral coalition of interests connected to the the Marcellus Shale formation under the farms and forests of Pennsylvania and New York. When I look back on that brief moment -when we didn’t quite yet surmise the tsunami coming (we could call it BG-Before the Gas), I now realize just how naive we were with respect to the motives of MSC and their well-funded advertising agency analogues. Now we live in the AG-After the Gas-and even the most cursory gander at MSC’s sponsoring corporations makes quite […]

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DRILL BABIES FOOLED AGAIN?

April 8, 2014
DRILL BABIES FOOLED AGAIN?

While following the latest “GAS”roots organization, United Shale Advocates (USA), which was created by the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), a quite by former President George W. Bush came to mind. He mangled an old saying: “There’s an old saying in Tennessee - I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can’t get fooled again.” Mark Twain put it a different way: “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled”. The MSC/USA project is a poster child for fooling people over and over and over again. MSC/USA project is touted as being “grassroots”. It’s not, it’s GASroots. See: GASROOTS - United Shale Advocates for more on this. DRILL BABIES […]

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GASROOTS - United Shale Advocates

April 4, 2014
GASROOTS - United Shale Advocates

Last month the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), a fossil fuel funded lobbying organization, launched a “grassroots” advocacy program. “The goal of United Shale Advocates (USA) is to give a voice and a platform to those who support shale development in Pennsylvania but who are not directly involved in the industry”, said Steve Forde, vice president of communications and outreach for the Pittsburgh-based Marcellus Shale Coalition. What does that mean? It means we have yet another fossil fuel funded public relations campaign masquerading as grassroots. The term “grassroots” implies that the creation of the movement and the group happens at the local level, as many volunteers in the community give their time, energy and resources to work on an issue which concerns them. A true grassroots organization does not typically have […]

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