The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York – Promoting Clean Energy for New York
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in 2008 put a halt on a type of natural gas extraction that uses hydraulic fracture stimulation combined with horizontal drilling. The DEC’s goal was to evaluate the state’s existing drilling permit guidelines to help further ensure environmental protection.
The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) was thrust into the middle of what quickly became a sustained and well-funded campaign by environmental advocates to stall or halt future natural gas development in New York. The issue is likely to garner public attention into the foreseeable future.
On behalf of IOGA of NY, CPC designed and distributed a series of legislative postcards in support of safe natural gas development.
Corning Place Communications was retained to work with IOGA of NY and its members, as well as other stakeholders and Corning Place’s government affairs partner, Hinman Straub Advisors, to develop and deliver a communications strategy that established IOGA as the industry’s leading voice in New York and educated the public, the media and Albany decision-makers regarding the safety and environmental benefits the state’s oil and natural gas industrycontinues to bring to the state.
IOGA of NY’s messages remain strong, factual and convincing: More than 100 years of successful natural gas development in the state; 60 years of implementing environmentally sound hydraulic fracture technology; and a solid history of balancing the economic and environmental needs of the state. The challenge was, as it is today, to tell this story.
In the past three years, CPC has leveraged many forms of communication techniques to drive these messages, including direct mail, social media, earned and paid placements, online communications, and expert testimony to present IOGA of NY and its members as they are: the businesspeople, geologists and scientists who are striving to put New Yorkers back to work and address the state’s energy needs.
The result is that despite sustained opposition, New Yorkers remain open-minded about increased natural gas development in the Southern Tier and that the highest levels of New York government have so far rejected calls for further, unnecessary delays and, instead, have allowed science to guide the state’s energy future.