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Activists or ‘insurgents’

The movement toward a militarized method of minimizing opposition began when industry leaders gathered last year in Houston for an annual conference.

Matt Carmichael, external affairs manager for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, gave his public relations colleagues advice on how to move forward in the face of nationwide growing opposition to fracking, referencing military tactics.

“Download the U.S. Army, Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual, because we are dealing with an insurgency,” he said. “There’s a lot of good lessons in there, and coming from a military background, I found that insight in that extremely remarkable.”

Carmichael was certainly not alone when he referenced military tactics to battle opposition movements.

Range Resources director of corporate communications, Matt Pitzarella, was recorded at the conference claiming his company had hired military veterans with psychological warfare experience…….

Shields introduced the bill that went on to ban fracking within the city. Rather than operating under the umbrella of zoning, Shields crafted a rights-based bill — one he said was never challenged, until now.

Shields looks at fracking as “inherently dangerous” and cites a lack of environmental impact studies on the industry a failure on behalf of the government. He cites a book written by journalist Tom Wilber, who began documenting stories of those living on the Marcellus Shale, an area that stretches through New York and Pennsylvania — a formation ripe for fracking.

The book, “Under the Surface,” tells the stories of those living in the area, including 32 residents of Dimock, Pa., who say their wells have been contaminated by the 100 gas wells in the town. It’s stories like this that drive Wilber and activists to cry out against the state in its efforts to take their authority away.

Yet it’s the people telling those stories who are facing companies that are going through the effort of hiring experts in psychological warfare to overcome opposition. While their minds will not likely be changed by information provided through PSYOPs, they have little control over the situation when lawmakers at the state level are targeted. http://www.mintpress.net/fracking-industry-hires-psychological-warfare-military-officers-to-combat-peaceful-opposition/