Oil and gas companies can win against environmental opponents by digging up “embarrassing tidbits” about their critics and exploiting emotions like fear, greed, and anger, according to a veteran political consultant who’s raising $3 million for a campaign called Big Green Radicals.
“Think of this as an endless war,” Richard Berman, founder and CEO of Berman & Company, told an event last June sponsored by the Western Energy Alliance. “And you have to budget for it.”
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The Times obtained the remarks from an energy executive in the room who was offended by Berman’s strategy. Big Green Radicals has already placed “intentionally controversial” pro-fracking ads in Pennsylvania and Colorado, Lipton writes.
On the Climate Progress blog, Emily Atkin reported on participants’ reactions to Berman’s remarks, calling the approach “brilliant in its simplicity,” “really neat,” and “very, very helpful.”
