Marcellus Shale gas drilling spokesmen at an industry conference in Houston said their companies are employing former military counterinsurgency officers and recommended using military-style psychological operations strategies, or psyops, to deal with media inquiries and citizen opposition to drilling in Pennsylvania communities.
Matt Pitzarella, a Range Resources spokesman speaking to other oil and gas industry spokespeople at the conference last week, said the company hires former military psyops specialists who use those skills in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Pitzarella's statements and related comments made by a spokesman for Anadarko Petroleum were recorded by a member of an environmental group who provided them to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"We have several former psyops folks that work for us at Range because they're very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments," Mr. Pitzarella said during the last half of a 23-minute presentation in a conference session. The session was titled "Designing a Media Relations Strategy to Overcome Concerns Surrounding Hydraulic Fracturing."
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