Rocky failed to identify "consumer" oil shale advocacy group as affiliated with energy companies and lobbyists

Summary: In publishing a "Speakout" guest opinion column promoting oil shale development, the Rocky Mountain News identified the author as "the chair of Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale," but omitted that the group -- which describes itself as a "community-based organization" -- is affiliated with numerous energy companies and energy-industry advocacy organizations.

A June 20 Rocky Mountain News "Speakout" column identified its author, Peggy Rector, as "the chair of Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale [ECCOS]" and "a resident of Rangely." However, the News did not disclose that ECCOS, which calls itself "a community-based organization," lists among its "[a]ffiliates" the energy industry front group Americans for American Energy (AAE); oil companies EnShale Inc. and Shell Exploration and Production Company; and the activist group Partnership for America, whose national chair -- former U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) -- sponsored a 2006 bill to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, and, according to the Los Angeles Times, "attempt[ed] to dismantle the Endangered Species Act."

Some of the affiliates also have direct ties to each other through the Colorado-based lobbying group Policy Communications Inc., whose clients include "companies, associations and organizations" associated with "[a]dvanced power generation/coal technologies"; "[e]nergy services"; and "[o]il & gas exploration, production and distribution." The ECCOS affiliate Western Business Roundtable is led by president and chief executive officer Jim Sims, who also is president and CEO of Policy Communications -- which, according to its website, founded Americans for American Energy, and "devised and implemented a turn-around strategy that restored" the Western Business Roundtable "to national prominence and respect." The Roundtable's director of communications and new media is Darrell Proctor, who holds the same title at Policy Communications.

Policy Communications also states on its website that it "created and built the Partnership for the West coalition from scratch," and provides a link to Partnership for the West that actually connects to the home page of ECCOS affiliate Partnership for America.

Further, ECCOS affiliate AAE is led by president and CEO Greg Schnacke, who headed the Colorado Oil & Gas Association for 13 years and is a lobbyist at Policy Communications.

In her guest column, Rector referred to a draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for Oil Shale and Tar Sands, which addresses land administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. After stating, "We need more energy, both traditional and renewable, for our economy and for our nation's security," Rector continued:

If done right, the oil shale contained in the Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming could go a long way toward increased energy security and less reliance on foreign sources of energy.

The history of oil shale in northwestern Colorado has been controversial. None of us want a repeat of the bust of 25 years ago. The impacts to our communities were long-lasting. But our region contains an estimated 1.2 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil.

Even by conservative estimates, there are 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from oil shale in the area. That is three times greater than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Seventy percent of these reserves are under the control of the federal government.

The draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Oil Shale and Tar Sands is an important public policy document now under public review that addresses a critical need we have in America today -- increased energy independence and security.

[...]

What does the PEIS really do? It signals the start of an important public conversation on how to possibly move forward on oil shale. This must include a careful consideration of the environmental, economic and social effects of any lease long before development begins. In releasing the draft PEIS, the BLM laid out three alternative plans for lands to be made available for commercial leasing of oil shale. And, it would continue to prohibit development on large tracts of land including wilderness areas.

We need more sources of domestic energy. Let's not close the door on one of our state's most important energy sources.

Peggy Rector is the chair of Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale. She is a resident of Rangely. [italics in original]

In publishing Rector's column promoting oil shale development, the News did not disclose that ECCOS is affiliated with numerous energy companies and industry advocacy groups that, according to the ECCOS website, "are able to participate in our public outreach efforts through our online education and advocacy tools and public education events." ECCOS affiliates include:

Americans for American Energy
Applied Control Equipment
Develop Utah
EGL
EnShale
Jacobs Engineering Group
Partnership for America
Red Leaf Resources
Shell Exploration and Production Company
The Center for Unconventional Fuels
Western Business Roundtable

Among the affiliates, Shell and EnShale hope to commercially develop oil shale in Colorado and surrounding states. EnShale's mission states in part that "[g]oing forward with an efficient, successful extraction method for oil shale could provide the United States with enough oil to eliminate the need to import from foreign sources. In accomplishing this goal, a significant source of political and economic instability for the U.S. would be eliminated and a viable, financially attractive business opportunity in the energy industry will be created."

According to Shell's website, "Shell companies have been finding and producing oil and gas around the world for over a century. Today, we have interests in exploration and production ventures in more than 39 countries and employ approximately 19,000 staff (not including contractors.)"

The BLM in January 2007 issued three Research, Development, & Demonstration (RD&D) leases in Colorado to Shell. According to the BLM, those leases "may convert to commercial leases upon demonstrating commercial viability." Similarly, EnShale states on its website that the company "has acquired mineral rights to oil shale on 4,650 acres of state-owned land in eastern Utah."

Partnership for America is chaired by Pombo, the former chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee. He sponsored the 2006 "American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act," which, according to the Congressional Research Service's summary of the bill, proposed amending "the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 to repeal the proscription against production or leasing of oil and gas resources from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)." As the Los Angeles Times noted in its June 5 article, Pombo, "the then-powerful chairman of the House Resources Committee," lost his seat when he "came under a searing attack by environmental groups for his attempts to dismantle the Endangered Species Act."

The Center for Unconventional Fuels' mission "is to promote government policies that encourage the development of domestic unconventional resources and technologies in order to improve energy security and increase economic development," according to its website. The website further states:

The Center is dedicated to:

(1) Expanding the development of unconventional fuels, such as Heavy Oil, Tar Sands and Oil Shale,

(2) Promoting new technologies, such as Enhanced Oil Recover (EOR) and Coal-to-Liquids (CTL), that will expand the range of sources that can provide the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel that drives our economy, and

(3) Promoting the development of technologies that will assist companies in meeting national CO2 reduction policies and providing domestic energy security.

In addition, although its website states that "ECCOS is run by a board of trustees of citizens who believe strongly that America's oil shale resource can and should move forward to commercial development in an environmentally responsible manner," the site as of June 20 did not identify any trustees or staff members by name.

—C.H.