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Stelmach crafting $200,000 oilsands PR plan
News Articles | Calgary Herald | Jason Fekete | June 19, 2010
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Conceding it has “no communication strategy” to inform the public about upstream oil and gas development in Alberta, the Stelmach government is crafting a new information campaign about resource activity in the province.
The Tory government is looking to spend upwards of $200,000 on a consultant to direct four focus groups around the province to secure feedback from Albertans about their thoughts on upstream development, which includes drilling and extracting the resource (but doesn’t include upgrading or refining).
The information will be used to develop a new communications strategy surrounding oil and gas development, designed to address public concerns and better inform people about the province’s primary industry.
“Currently, there is no communication strategy or single set of usable public information to inform the public and address concerns regarding upstream oil and gas development (including in situ oilsands) in Alberta,” says the government’s memo to consultants.
“A sustainable proactive Government of Alberta public information/ awareness delivery model does not exist for upstream oil and gas activity,” it adds. “This poses challenges in developing and maintaining a positive, effective targeted approach to keeping Albertans informed about resource development in the province.”
The government is asking the successful public relations consultant to act as a neutral third party and hold up to four small focus groups across Alberta to obtain their views on two matters:
-What information concerning resource development do Albertans need to inform them about upstream oil, gas and in situ development?; and
-What communication methods and approaches do people need to receive the information they’re looking for?
The work is to begin in late July and extend until the fall, with the public feedback being incorporated by the departments of Energy, Environment, Sustainable Resource Development and the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board.
The final strategy is designed to “raise public awareness and understanding, mitigate public concerns and reduce the need for more costly and intensive public engagement approaches to address heightened concern and instances of misinformation.”
Energy Minister Ron Liepert said he wasn’t familiar with the campaign, but argued government must improve its communication efforts and believes a new blueprint is needed.
“We just assumed everybody understood, and frankly they don’t,” Liepert said in an interview. “We need to do more at energy literacy, both within Alberta and outside Alberta.”
Albertans and all Canadians need to better understand how much they rely upon the oil and gas sector, including the controversial oilsands, the second largest oil reserves in the world, he said. “The economic downturn has made people realize where their livelihood comes from,” the minister added. “We need to do a better job — we need to do it in some cases working with industry, in some cases separate from industry.”
The government has faced a barrage of criticism in recent years — both domestically and internationally — over oil and gas activity, and its impacts on land, air and water. Landowner groups also have sprung up, with rural Albertans demanding their concerns be heard.
Environmental organizations and opposition parties are wondering how the latest government campaign will differ from other recent initiatives that have seen the province spend millions of dollars on branding the oilsands as environmentally sustainable.
“It sounds like yet again dedicating more resources to engage in a public relations campaign,” said Chris Severson-Baker, national policy director for the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental research group. “A lot of Albertans and a lot of people outside of Alberta aren’t buying the message.”
Pembina wants the government to concentrate more on real actions, rather than messaging, including reducing water use and greenhouse gas emissions in energy production.
Liberal Leader David Swann said the government’s search for communications help is “quite a condemnation” of its efforts over the past few years.
Albertans aren’t just looking for the “short-term win” from oil and gas development, he said, but are extremely concerned about long-term impacts and want the government to craft a comprehensive strategy to address cumulative effects.
“There’s a tremendous distrust between government and landowners and whether they’re representing the public interest,” Swann said. “We’ve seen more bitterness.”
Even the oilpatch’s main lobby group said the new strategy reflects that Albertans want more information about the ecological impacts of petroleum production and efforts underway to reduce the footprint.
Janet Annesley, vice-president of communications with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said public consultation on projects, as required by provincial regulations, is working quite well.
CAPP and other industry players have launched their own Alberta is Energy public relations campaign to improve Albertans’ literacy about oil and gas development, and its economic impacts.
Tagged with: alberta, stelmach, natural resources, public information
