Shale Gas Industry Brings PSYOPs and Spy Ops to Poland

[Paul Mobbs]

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The Food and Water Europe press release is at --
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/pressreleases/spying%2Dactivities%2Don%2Danti%2Dfracking%2Dgroups%2Din%2Dpoland%2Dimpede%2Dopen%2Ddebate%2Dabout%2Dthe%2Drisks%2Dof%2Dshale%2Dgas/

P.



http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/10/shale%2Dgas%2Dindustry%2Dbrings%2Dpsyops%2Dand%2Dspy%2Dops%2Dpoland

Shale Gas Industry Brings PSYOPs and Spy Ops to Poland

Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog, Wednesday 10th October 2012


Roughly a year ago today in Houston, the shale gas industry was caught red-
handed discussing its use of military tactics and personnel on U.S. soil to 
intimidate and divide communities in order to continue its fracking 
bonanza. 

In a gathering thought to be exclusively among friends, one industry public 
relations professional representing Range Resources, Matt Pitzarella, said 
his company utilizes psychological warfare (PSYOPs) tactics on citizens 
living in the Marcellus Shale basin. The Marcellus is one of the epicenters 
of the global hydraulic fracturing boom ("fracking").
http://desmogblog.com/gas%2Dfracking%2Dindustry%2Dusing%2Dmilitary%2Dpsychological%2Dwarfare%2Dtactics%2Dand%2Dpersonnel%2Du%2Ds%2Dcommunities

Matt Carmichael, External Affairs Manager at Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, 
told attendees, "we are dealing with an insurgency," referring to citizens 
concerned about the impacts of oil and gas development in their 
communities. He advised the PR pros in the room to use the U.S. Army/Marine 
Corps Counterinsurgency Manual, along with Donald Rumsfeld's book, as 
guidebooks for suppressing dissent.     

A year later, we're learning that the oil industry is taking its aggressive 
military-style approach global. According to a press release published by 
Food and Water Europe, the industry is spying on fracking critics in 
Poland.

"Recent media reports from Poland show that heavy-handed tactics such as 
spying and undercover operations are being used against groups and 
individuals who question shale gas development," explains the release. 
"Shale gas companies have sent spies to anti-fracking meetings and reported 
their findings to the highest levels of the Polish government and internal 
security services, according to reports in a Polish daily newspaper."

An internal government report provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
and conducted by shale gas investors was given to Gazeta Prawna, a Polish 
newspaper. The Gazeta reported that anti-fracking activists have been 
deemed to "breach public security and order" by the investors, serving as 
the motive for the spy ops. This parallels anti-fracking activists in the 
Marcellus Shale being labeled "insurgents" by Matt Carmichael, Manager of 
External Affairs for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation at the Media and 
Stakeholder Relations Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative conference held in 
Houston in October 2011.   

​This development is a breach of Article 10 of the European Convention on 
Human Rights, which reads, "Everyone has the right to freedom of 
expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to 
receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public 
authority and regardless of frontiers."

Fracking for commercial use has yet to begin in Poland, but as the 
Associated Press reported in March, could begin in 2014. Voices of dissent, 
though, are already being squealched before the fun has even begun. 

“[L]ocal communities increasingly find that their concerns about the 
environmental and health impacts of shale gas activities are not taken 
seriously,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water 
Watch. “This lack of an independent, science-based assessment of risks 
involved in shale gas in Poland is the reason why numerous local 
associations there are not welcoming this industry with open arms.” 


- -- 

.

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nor are we for this party nor against the other but we are
for justice and mercy and truth and peace and true freedom,
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God, and with one another, that these things may abound."
(Edward Burrough, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')

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Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations
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