Matthew Bashalany FTI

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</font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.energyindepth.org/eid-response-to-the-new-york-times/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.energyindepth.org/eid-response-to-the-new-york-times/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/climate/fti-consulting.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">article</a> in the <b><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;">New York Times</span> </b>made several sensational and dubious allegations about Energy In Depth (EID) and the work that this program does</span>. As the person who started the program back in 2009, I thought it would be useful to provide a short history lesson.</font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) launched EID more than a decade ago, the term “fracking” barely registered in Google searches. Opponents of the oil and gas industry no doubt preferred it that way, because they were <a href="https://www.energyindepth.org/issue-alert-degette-bill-targeting-hydraulic-fracturing-to-be-introduced-today-2/?154" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">advocating for legislation</a> in Congress that would have ended the successful, state-based regulatory structure for hydraulic fracturing that had been in place since the process was invented in the 1940s. Instead, the legislation would have shifted regulatory authority to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. To suggest the trajectory of the shale revolution would have been far different had that happened is perhaps an understatement. <b>The legislation was defeated</b> – as it has been multiple times in the years since – but the conversation about “fracking” would obviously only grow.</font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IPAA created the Energy In Depth program to provide timely and valuable information about hydraulic fracturing – everything from the chemicals used during the process and the layers of casing that protect groundwater to the finer details of how the process is regulated across the country. From the early days, EID produced fact sheets and blog posts countering misinformation, and we regularly spoke with media to share resources and our perspectives (we still do). We produced detailed responses filled with source citations and links to government agencies and peer-reviewed research; one of our mantras has always been “don’t just take our word for it.” EID became an indispensable part of the conversation about what was still the early days of the shale revolution.</font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When the attempt to put EPA in control of hydraulic fracturing failed in Congress, opponents of the industry shifted tactics and began to attack it directly – and with sensationalism. There were dubious accusations of flaming faucets in the <a href="https://www.energyindepth.org/gasland-debunked/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">Gasland films</a>.</span> There were the claims of astronomically high methane leakage rates in the United States, based on data from Russian pipelines (no, really), and which the <a href="https://www.energyindepth.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/EID_Howarth_fact_sheet5.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">scientific community roundly rejected</a>. </font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There was research linking fracking to premature births, which upon closer examination was so <a href="https://www.energyindepth.org/the-science-behind-generating-headlines/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">devoid of scientific rigor</a> that the author regretted ever making it public. A self-described “science advisor” to Americans Against Fracking once even claimed that all female energy workers are either “<a href="https://www.energyindepth.org/ny-anti-fracking-peer-reviewer-calls-women-energy-workers-prostitutes/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">hotel maids or prostitutes</a>.” At every step of the way, when misinformation appeared about hydraulic fracturing – and the U.S. oil and gas industry as a whole – EID was often the first to call it out and correct the record. Being first has actually been our goal from the beginning.</font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Of course, EID’s success has made it a target of industry opponents, who would naturally prefer that their spurious claims go unchallenged</b>. Some have simply disagreed with our perspectives, and we can handle that. But others who cannot win on the substance (and don’t even care to try) have attacked EID directly. They largely point to EID being funded by the oil and gas industry, as if that is something we have hidden: the IPAA logo appears on every page of the EID website! From there, the accusations often devolve into the silly and nonsensical, like suggesting IPAA is just a front, and that the program is <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;">actually</em> run by a handful of big companies.</font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Let me be clear, as I have been many times before: IPAA owns and directs the Energy In Depth program, and I personally oversee and approve all content. Energy In Depth is even a registered trademark of IPAA.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One other “accusation” – on which the <span style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;"><b>New York Times</b></span> focuses its ridiculously biased story – is that IPAA works with a firm called FTI Consulting to do the EID program. But here again, that is not a secret.</span> We’ve worked with FTI for almost 20 years now – before it was even called FTI. In the context of EID, numerous FTI employees have served as spokespeople for the program over the years, at all times operating under my supervision. They pen blog posts under their own name, provide statements to the media (often utilizing their FTI email addresses), and interact publicly on social media with their FTI affiliations listed. Despite the fact this is readily apparent to anyone, critics continue to try to characterize this partnership as some sort of smoke-filled room conspiracy that no one previously knew about. It’s so silly!</font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, only a program as successful as EID could receive such breathless attacks from opponents of our industry. And to be clear, I am including the reporter from the <em style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;">New York Times</em> who filed this latest story in that category:<b> last month, in a tweet she later deleted, <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/28/new-york-times-asleep-at-the-switch-over-journalis/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">she linked the U.S. oil and gas industry to “white supremacy,”</a> and her <a href="https://www.insidesources.com/nytimes-keeps-reporter-on-energy-beat-despite-tweet-linking-industry-to-white-supremacy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer;">editors have heretofore done nothing</a> about it. </b>Such a vile and disgusting accusation is a perfect example of why we have a program like EID to rebut misinformation that all too often proliferates in the media.</font></p><p style="margin: 15px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; line-height: 21px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a final point, the <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px;">New York Times</span> says Energy In Depth “has been central to the fossil fuel industry’s championing of fracking.” On that point, at least, we couldn’t agree more.</font></p></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">politico:</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 344.854px 1em 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">NYT UNEARTHS FOSSIL FUELS ASTROTURFING CAMPAIGN: </span>The New York Times is out with a deep dive on what appears to be an expansive, yearslong corporate influence campaign on run by the global consulting firm <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">FTI</span> purporting to show grassroots support for fossil fuels but was really funded by oil and gas giants like <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Exxon</span>, a push that “often obscure the industry’s role, portraying pro-petroleum groups as grass-roots movements,” the Times’ <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Hiroko Tabuchi </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/climate/fti-consulting.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s;">reports</a>. “One of FTI’s largest shareholders, the investment firm BlackRock, won kudos this year for saying it would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/business/dealbook/larry-fink-blackrock-climate-change.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s;">put environmental sustainability</a> at the center of its investment approach,” Tabuchi notes.</font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 344.854px 1em 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— “As part of its services to the industry, FTI monitored environmental activists online, and in one instance an employee created a fake Facebook persona — an imaginary, middle-aged Texas woman with a dog — to help keep tabs on protesters. Former FTI employees say they studied other online influence campaigns and compiled strategies for affecting public discourse. They helped run a campaign that sought a securities rule change, described as protecting the interests of mom-and-pop investors, that aimed to protect oil and gas companies from shareholder pressure to address climate and other concerns.”</font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px 344.854px 1em 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— In a statement, Exxon <a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/News/Newsroom/News-releases/2020/1112_ExxonMobil-statement-regarding-inaccurate-New-York-Times-story" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s;">accused</a> Tabuchi of an "obvious bias against the oil and gas industry," and said it would refuse to work with her but did not address her charges specifically. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Energy In Depth</span>, the pro-industry news site launched by the <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Independent Petroleum Association of America</span> and featured in the Times report, <a href="https://www.energyindepth.org/eid-response-to-the-new-york-times/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s;">penned a blog post</a> refuting what they say are "sensational and dubious allegations" leveled by the Times.</font></p></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box;">IRVING, Texas </span>– The New York Times story published on November 12 entitled “How One Firm Drove Influence Campaigns Nationwide for Big Oil” is a biased and inaccurate misrepresentation of our relationship with trade associations and other organizations and illustrates precisely why we refused to comment or work with the author of this article. <b>We requested the following statement be included in the story, which the author and her editors ignored and refused to print in full:</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px 40px; background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“ExxonMobil will not work with Ms.Tabuchi because of her obvious bias against the oil and gas industry, illustrated by her baseless claim alleging industry links to white supremacy, which the New York Times has refused to address appropriately. We will engage with New York Times reporters who follow basic rules of journalism and provide fair treatment to our company and industry.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This reporter’s foundational bias against the oil and gas industry is well documented <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.insidesources.com/nytimes-keeps-reporter-on-energy-beat-despite-tweet-linking-industry-to-white-supremacy/" target="blank" title="This link opens a new browser window." style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; touch-action: manipulation; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">here</a> and in other sources.</font></p></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://insidesources.com/nytimes-keeps-reporter-on-energy-beat-despite-tweet-linking-industry-to-white-supremacy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://insidesources.com/nytimes-keeps-reporter-on-energy-beat-despite-tweet-linking-industry-to-white-supremacy/</a></div><div>
</div><div>NEWS</div><div>Energy</div><div><b>NYTimes Keeps Reporter On Energy Beat Despite Tweet Linking Industry to ‘White Supremacy’</b></div><div><b>Posted to Energy November 03, 2020 by Todd Shepher</b>d</div><div>
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</div><div>A New York Times reporter who said the oil and gas industry is linked to white supremacy is still on the energy sector beat, despite complaints she can’t provide objective coverage, emails obtained by InsideSources show.</div><div>
</div><div><b>“I’ve been thinking a lot about fossil fuels and white supremacy recently,” Times climate change reporter Hiroko Tabuchi tweeted on Oct. 1. “Almost every single oil executive, lobbyist, spokesperson I’ve dealt with is white and male. It’s difficult not to see the link.</b>”</div><div>
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</div><div>One day after the tweet, a top executive with the American Petroleum Institute emailed Times climate editor Hannah Fairfield, who in turn tried to allay their concerns.</div><div>
</div><div>“We agree that the tweets you cited were overly opinionated,” Fairfield said to the executive. “Hiroko herself made the decision to delete them from her account. However, we are confident that her reporting on the industry has been accurate and fair, and has adhered to the high journalistic standards of the New York Times.”</div><div>
</div><div>Times executive editor Dean Baquet added in a subsequent email that he and other “senior editors” had consulted with Fairfield about the response. “We believe strongly that we have taken appropriate steps,” Baquet said.</div><div>
</div><div>However, there is no indication that the New York Times has taken any steps. Tabuchi is still covering the petroleum industry for the paper.</div><div>
</div><div>“I am at a loss in justifying to our executives why we would engage with a reporter who believes our entire industry and its executives are linked to white supremacy, something we strongly denounce,” the API official fired back to Baquet in response.</div><div>
</div><div>The official’s name was blacked out in the emails provided to InsideSources by a source close to the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the emails or speak on the subject.</div><div>
</div><div>The API official added that allowing Tabuchi to simply delete the tweet without any correction or apology was “insufficient” and that Tabuchi’s comments were “in direct violation of your own handbook on ethical journalism.”</div><div>
</div><div>“Your institution is too good to look the other way on such a blatant lack of professionalism and neutrality,” he continued. “She has lost the confidence of our organization and I imagine any reader who views her troubling comments.”</div><div>
</div><div>An online version of the Times handbook for journalists says, “Staff members are free to discuss their own activities in public, provided their comments do not create an impression that they lack journalistic impartiality or speak for The Times.”</div><div>
</div><div>A request for comment from the Times was not returned.</div><div>
</div><div>Officials with API tell InsideSources they are still under the impression that no further disciplinary action has been taken.</div><div>
</div><div>“The reporter’s comments were <b>deeply offensive </b>and downright wrong about our industry,” said API’s senior vice president of communications Megan Bloomgren.</div><div>
</div><div>“We immediately raised the reporter’s comments to the highest levels of the New York Times since they directly violated the paper’s handbook on ethical journalism, and while we exchanged emails and had a meaningful discussion, the copy editing team took no action. Deleting tweets doesn’t delete inherent bias.”</div><div>
</div><div>When journalists delete tweets, they often publish an explanation for the deletion. But no such tweet appears to have been sent from Tabuchi to her more than 126,000 followers. Her current Twitter timeline only goes back to September 21, indicating she’s deleted her previous posts.</div><div>
</div><div>The simmering controversy over Tabuchi’s tweet illustrates how the social justice issue is being injected into the oil and gas debate as the country is grappling with questions of race and fairness after a summer of protests.</div><div>
</div><div><b>“Police violence and pollution are more connected than you might realize,” </b>Tabuchi said in a since-deleted tweet from September. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This investigation documents how the fossil fuel industry finances police groups in major U.S. cities, while polluting majority Black and brown communities.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In another deleted tweet, Tabuchi quoted an environmental activist who said, “Fossil fuel facilities are disproportionately — let me say that again, disproportionately — located in communities of color. From southwest Detroit to Baytown, Texas to Cancer Alley in Louisiana, communities of color are in the crosshairs of this pollution.</span>”</div><div>
</div><div>Pennsylvania is a top natural gas producer in the country, especially as hydraulic fracturing technologies — usually called “fracking — have come to dominate the field and have unleashed a decade of new productivity for the industry. A 2017 study by API estimated that Pennsylvania is home to 322,600 fracking jobs.</div><div>
</div><div>About the Author</div><div>
</div><div>Todd Shepherd</div><div>Todd Shepherd is editor of the Delaware Valley Journal. He also covers politics and energy policy for InsideSources.</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/climate/fti-consulting.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/climate/fti-consulting.html</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>How One Firm Drove Influence Campaigns Nationwide for Big Oil</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FTI, a global consulting firm, helped design, staff and run organizations and websites funded by energy companies that can appear to represent grass-roots support for fossil-fuel initiatives.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The headquarters of FTI, which has a prominent role in influence campaigns supporting fossil fuels, in Washington.]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">By Hiroko Tabuchi</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Nov. 11, 2020</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In early 2017, the Texans for Natural Gas website went live to urge voters to “thank a roughneck” and support fracking. Around the same time, the Arctic Energy Center ramped up its advocacy for drilling in Alaskan waters and in a vast Arctic wildlife refuge. The next year, the Main Street Investors Coalition warned that climate activism doesn’t help mom-and-pop investors in the stock market.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">All three appeared to be separate efforts to amplify local voices or speak up for regular people.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On closer look, however, the groups had something in common: They were part of a network of corporate influence campaigns designed, staffed and at times run by FTI Consulting, which had been hired by some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world to help them promote fossil fuels.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.71429rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.71429;">...</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.71429rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.71429;">An examination of FTI’s work provides an anatomy of the oil industry’s efforts to influence public opinion in the face of increasing political pressure over climate change, an issue likely to grow in prominence, given President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s pledge to pursue bolder climate regulations. The campaigns often obscure the industry’s role, portraying pro-petroleum groups as grass-roots movements.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.71429rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.71429;"><b>As part of its services to the industry, FTI monitored environmental activists online, and in one instance an employee created a fake Facebook persona — an imaginary, middle-aged Texas woman with a dog — to help keep tabs on protesters.</b> Former FTI employees say they studied other online influence campaigns and compiled strategies for affecting public discourse. They helped run a campaign that sought a securities rule change, described as protecting the interests of mom-and-pop investors, that aimed to protect oil and gas companies from shareholder pressure to address climate and other concerns....</p></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><blockquote><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FTI employees also staffed two news and information sites, Energy In Depth and Western Wire, writing pro-industry articles on fracking, climate lawsuits and other hot-button issues. <b>Former employees familiar with Energy In Depth said the site’s content had direction from Exxon Mobil, </b>one of the major clients of the FTI division that worked on these oil and gas campaigns.</font></blockquote><blockquote><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Energy In Depth website notes its affiliation with an energy trade group [ipaa?] that Exxon is a member of, though not Exxon’s role in directing content that the site published. </font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article is based on interviews with a dozen former FTI employees, including former managing directors, a review of hundreds of internal FTI documents and an examination of the digital trail of domain-name registrations and other details left by the creation of the websites. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In all, FTI has been involved in the operations of at least 15 current and past influence campaigns promoting fossil-fuel interests in addition to its direct work for oil and gas clients.</span>

Matthew Bashalany, an FTI spokesman, disputed the idea that FTI worked behind the scenes for these groups. <b>[FTI lies in its own defense]</b>[1] “We hide behind no one,” he said.

“We summarily reject as false, misleading and <b>defamatory </b>the general narrative and specific claims,” he said. “We hold ourselves to the highest professional and ethical standards of conduct; when and where shortfalls are identified in this regard, they are addressed appropriately.”</font></div></blockquote><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is just a reminder that the real war in America is over winning hearts and minds. The goal for rich and powerful people and interests is gaining and maintaining wealth and power. The goal for the masses, or the mob as the radical right sees it, is a better deal based on less economic inequality and special interest over public interest influence (i.e., money and power). </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is an all-out war of dark free speech (lies, deceit, irrational emotional manipulation, self-serving motivated reasoning, etc.) against the masses. Unfortunately, dark free speech is more powerful than honest free speech. The playing field is heavily tilted in favor of the rich and powerful as it usually is and has been throughout history.</font></div></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>full txt</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fTI, a global consulting firm, helped design, staff and run organizations and websites funded by energy companies that can appear to represent grass-roots support for fossil-fuel initiatives.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In early 2017, the Texans for Natural Gas website went live to urge voters to “thank a roughneck” and support fracking. Around the same time, the Arctic Energy Center ramped up its advocacy for drilling in Alaskan waters and in a vast Arctic wildlife refuge. The next year, the Main Street Investors Coalition warned that climate activism doesn’t help mom-and-pop investors in the stock market.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All three appeared to be separate efforts to amplify local voices or speak up for regular people.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On closer look, however, the groups had something in common: They were part of a network of corporate influence campaigns designed, staffed and at times run by FTI Consulting, which had been hired by some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world to help them promote fossil fuels.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An examination of FTI’s work provides an anatomy of the oil industry’s efforts to influence public opinion in the face of increasing political pressure over climate change, an issue likely to grow in prominence, given President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s pledge to pursue bolder climate regulations. The campaigns often obscure the industry’s role, portraying pro-petroleum groups as grass-roots movements.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As part of its services to the industry, FTI monitored environmental activists online</b>, and in one instance an employee created a fake Facebook persona — an imaginary, middle-aged Texas woman with a dog — to help keep tabs on protesters. Former FTI employees say they studied other online influence campaigns and compiled strategies for affecting public discourse. They helped run a campaign that sought a securities rule change, described as protecting the interests of mom-and-pop investors, that aimed to protect oil and gas companies from shareholder pressure to address climate and other concerns.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FTI employees also staffed two news and information sites, Energy In Depth and Western Wire, writing pro-industry articles on fracking, climate lawsuits and other hot-button issues. Former employees familiar with Energy In Depth said the site’s content had direction from Exxon Mobil, one of the major clients of the FTI division that worked on these oil and gas campaigns.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Energy In Depth website notes its affiliation with an energy trade group that Exxon is a member of, though not Exxon’s role in directing content that the site published.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article is based on interviews with a dozen former FTI employees, including former managing directors, a review of hundreds of internal FTI documents and an examination of the digital trail of domain-name registrations and other details left by the creation of the websites. In all, FTI has been involved in the operations of at least 15 current and past influence campaigns promoting fossil-fuel interests in addition to its direct work for oil and gas clients.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Bashalany, an FTI spokesman, disputed the idea that FTI worked behind the scenes for these groups. “We hide behind no one,” he said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We summarily reject as false, misleading and defamatory the general narrative and specific claims,” he said. “We hold ourselves to the highest professional and ethical standards of conduct; when and where shortfalls are identified in this regard, they are addressed appropriately.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An Exxon spokesman, Casey Norton, said he would not comment on the findings because he considered the reporter to be biased against the fossil fuel industry. Kathleen Sgamma, a spokeswoman for the Western Energy Alliance, which funds Western Wire, said her group had been open about its partnership with FTI and about its approach to fracking.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The business of corporate consulting and public relations is vast, and countless companies routinely provide media outreach, public messaging, crisis management and other services. FTI is among them, and it has taken up an important role in helping promote the messages of the fossil fuel industr</b>y.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those messages have sometimes run counter to the scientific consensus that the world must burn less oil and gas to avoid the worst effects of global warming. <b>Texans for Natural Gas</b>, for example, has downplayed the magnitude of emissions of methane, the prime component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas production.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FTI’s work is the latest chapter in a long history of campaigns by the fossil fuel industry, political strategists and public relations professionals to influence climate policy. The industry has faced tough headwinds this year, in particular, as demand for oil and gas has tumbled amid the pandemic.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Founded in 1982 in Annapolis, Md., as a firm tha<b>t provided expert witnesses and presentations for litigation, </b>FTI has grown into a multinational firm that employs almost 5,000 people in 28 countries. Its business spans a wide range of services, from business consulting to crisis communications.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>One of FTI’s largest shareholders, the investment firm BlackRock,</b> won kudos this year for saying it would put environmental sustainability at the center of its investment approach. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Main Street Investors, one of FTI’s projects, has spoken out against shareholders who press corporations on climate and other issues — an effort that would seem to be in conflict with BlackRock’s stance.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Mr. Bashalany, the FTI spokesman,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> said the firm’s work “in no way contravenes — nor is it misaligned with” BlackRock’s statement. </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BlackRock declined to comment.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Do something big’</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On a clear day in July, a plane soared over America’s biggest oil and gas field with a banner trailing behind it that read: “Thank you essential oil and gas workers.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We wanted to do something big, and what’s bigger than an airplane with a banner?” Elizabeth Caldwell of<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Texans for Natural Gas said in a statement. The group, which describes itself as a local organization representing “citizens and officeholders, business owners and students” with more than 400,000 supporters, is funded by oil and gas companies including<b> XTO Energy, an Exxon subsidiary,</b> according to its website.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The statement identifies Ms. Caldwell as “a spokeswoman for the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b> grass-roots organization.” </b>She is also a director at FTI, according to her LinkedIn page</span>. (There was nothing unusual about an organization receiving corporate support and public relations help, FTI’s spokesman said.)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Acting as Texans for Natural Gas representatives, FTI employees have launched pro-industry petitions, produced videos and reports on the importance of the<b> Permian Basin</b> oil field, and written<b> opinion pieces for local newspapers</b> supporting fossil fuels. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The site features testimonials from three women, two of whom are represented with stock photos and one with a photo used without permission from the Flickr page of a photographer in the Philippines.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FTI’s Mr.</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Bashalany</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> acknowledged the use of the stock photos and said adjustments would be made to avoid confusion. He said the supporters and testimonials were real.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Texans for Natural Gas has also shared misleading information about greenhouse gas emissions. In 2018, it issued a study inaccurately claiming that emissions of methane had decreased significantly in the heart of Texas oil country at the height of the fracking boom.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To arrive at that conclusion, scientists say, the report tallied data from the Environmental Protection Agency that the agency itself states does not represent overall emissions: The numbers, which are reported by the energy industry about a limited number of compressor stations and other facilities, do not include emissions from the area’s thousands of wells.<b> The data are “too low by at least a factor of two, and quite likely more,” said Robert W. Howarth, a professor at Cornell University who has researched methane emissions.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FTI stood by the report, calling its findings “on track with broader trends in Texas’ oil fields.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texans for Natural Gas is just one campaign run with the help of<b> FTI employees. Others include: Citizens to Protect PA Jobs, New Mexicans for Economic Prosperity, the Liberty Energy Project and the Arctic Energy Center,</b> according to interviews, internal documents and an examination of the digital trail of domain-name registrations and other details left by the creation of the websites.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another such organization, the <b>Marcellus Shale Coalition</b>, said of FTI in a statement: “We are proud to have them as a contract partner, especially when it comes to direct and transparent media support.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Susan,’ the fake Facebook user</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Within FTI, a group called StratCom, short for Strategic Communications, focuses on industry messaging campaigns.</span> In the United States, the group is led by <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Brian Kennedy, former press secretary for the office of the House minority leader and a former spokesman for Transocean, the drilling contractor involved in the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The StratCom group studied environmental protesters on behalf of the driller Apache Energy. </b>Apache was seeking to drill near Balmorhea State Park in Texas and was concerned that protesters were planning camps similar to those set up to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to two people with direct knowledge of the work.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One FTI document prepared for Apache, dated Jan. 25, 2017, included a link to a list of groceries and camp supplies compiled by organizers, which the document said provided a hint of the proposed camp’s size.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The fictitious Facebook profile — of a Texas woman named Susan McDonald who likes ice cream, the movie “Annie” and her local farmers’ market — was also intended to help FTI keep tabs on activists, former FTI employees said. The “friends” list on the fake profile, which remained present on Facebook as of Wednesday, includes one current and one former FTI employee.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Bashalany of FTI said, “A Facebook profile was created by a <b>former </b>employee to monitor social media anonymously. This was wrong, and it is against our policy.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apache declined to comment on the substance of the reporting.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>StratCom employees also studied and developed strategies designed to influence public discourse, according to five former employees</b>. An internal document dated Nov. 20, 2015, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">laid out various techniques. The “Semantic Nitpicker,” the document explained, “asks an endless series of questions.” The “Dog Typing on a Keyboard” uses “very poor grammar, spelling and punctuation and posts frequently to clutter up the thread and make it hard to read.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">A successful effort, the document advised, might use several commenters, “each with an assigned role.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Bashalany said senior managers were never aware of the document and it “never informed any activities or approaches to social or digital media engagement of any kind.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Other campaigns used common techniques, buying social media ads to target people with interests in Alaska and energy and steer them toward the Arctic Energy Center, an industry-funded site that promoted drilling in the waters off Alaska and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Exxon was a backer of the Arctic Energy Center, </span>according to documents and people who worked on the project. An FTI presentation prepared for Exxon, dated July 13, 2016, showed Exxon was scheduled to spend $120,000 over six months across social-media platforms, a draft budget dated the previous month shows.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Arctic Energy Center’s website has since been taken down.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate lawsuit spurs action</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2018, as New York City moved to sue Exxon Mobil and other fossil fuel companies, claiming that the companies had defrauded shareholders by downplaying climate change, a team within FTI’s StratCom group prepared a pushback.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The task at hand was to produce an article and tweets for Energy In Depth, the pro-industry site. The target:<b> Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, who was under fire at the time for his SUV use.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to an internal planning calendar, one tweet should show “Bill de Blasio in a giant SUV, wearing shirt that says WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS, or maybe a speech bubble with WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS!”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>New York lost that court battle.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to its website, Energy In Depth is a project of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a trade organization representing hundreds of mostly smaller oil and gas producers. FTI employees familiar with the project said the site’s content had direction from Exxon. FTI employees also wrote much of the content published on Energy In Depth.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">In a statement, an Independent Petroleum Association of America senior vice president,<b> Jeff Eshelman</b>, said “support for Energy In Depth comes from a wide segment of industry.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Bashalany, the FTI spokesman, said, “Any contention that it is supported in whole or even substantially in part by one company is categorically false.” He said FTI staff members reach out to companies, academics and others for input, “not the other way around.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy In Depth, along with the other industry-funded site tha<b>t FTI helps run, Western Wire,</b> has been central to the fossil fuel industry’s championing of fracking. Both sites, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">staffed by FTI writers, have pushed back against the #ExxonKnew campaign </span>waged by environmental activists, which claims that the company knew about climate change for decades yet blocked action to confront it.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘This is really fishy’</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In spring 2018, Nell Minow noticed a tweet from a new group, one she had never heard of, seeming to support small investors. Ms. Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge, a firm that advises investors, and a longtime advocate for mom-and-pop investors, was excited.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I thought, ‘Great, a shareholder group! I need to know about them,’” she said. “Then I started looking into them and thought, this is really fishy.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though the group, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Main Street Investors, </b>described itself as representing small investors, it was started by a number of industry organizations, including the National Association of Manufacturers. Main Street has criticized the ability of pension funds and other powerful investors to influence companies’ policies on matters like climate and the environment.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Working for the National Association of Manufacturers, FTI produced a study arguing that activist shareholders tend not to help shareholder value. The report’s five authors were employees of the consulting firm Compass Lexecon, a wholly owned FTI subsidiary. The Main Street Investors website is now offline.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>FTI also worked with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the industry group associated with Energy In Depth, to start DivestmentFacts.com, </b>which warns that divesting from fossil fuels — a growing trend among university endowments and pension funds — could cost those institutions millions of dollars.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> At least six academic papers published on Divestmentfacts.com were by professors who, in addition to their university jobs, were also working for Compass Lexecon, the FTI subsidiary.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>FTI monitored Ms. Minow after she publicly said Main Street Investors </b>was using “inflammatory language, unsupported assertions, and out-and-out falsehoods” to spread its message. Internal memos show FTI employees compiled reports on her background, noting, among other things, that she was once dubbed “the C.E.O. killer” by Fortune magazine for her record of ousting underperforming executives. FTI also tracked her tweets in a spreadsheet.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">FTI’s Mr. Bashalany</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> said that no attempt had been made to hide any of the report authors’ affiliation. He said neither FTI through its Compass Lexecon subsidiary nor its clients “had any influence whatsoever over the form or direction” of the reports. FTI staff conducted “some basic biographic research” of Ms. Minow, he said, “but that’s it — we did nothing else.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This month, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, t</b>he oil and gas lobby group, announced it had launched a major initiative to support oil and gas companies looking into adopting environmental, social and governance strategies. In its announcement, the group stressed the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> importance of efforts that were “<b>authentic</b> and effective.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Its partner in the endeavor is FTI.</font></p></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/topic/fti-consulting" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.huffpost.com/topic/<b>fti</b>-consulting</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-denial-energy-in-depth_n_5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-denial-energy-in-depth_n_5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Fossil Fuel Giants Claim To Support Climate Science, Yet Still Fund Denial</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fourteen oil and gas companies are funding a website that attacks scientists and undermines their work.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Paul D. Thacker</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Dec. 18, 2019,</b> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">overtime to show that</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">our climate commitment is</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Most energy companies now acknowledge that burning fossil fuels is warming the planet. And yet many continue to fund disinformation about industry’s role in climate change and its harm to human health.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the latest example, documents and recordings reviewed by HuffPost show that the Independent Petroleum Association of America has spent almost $2 million a year for the last two years on Energy In Depth, a “research, education and public outreach campaign” that regularly attacks scientists whose research is critical of industry. The campaign has received financial backing from 14 different oil and gas companies including Shell, Occidental Petroleum, BP, Chevron and Halliburton.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>These revelations come as world leaders adjourn the COP25 in Madrid,</b> an international summit held to discuss detailed ways to address the rapidly warming planet. In a recent review, scientists writing for <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Lancet stated that climate change will affect the health of every child born today as populations face weather extremes, food and water insecurity and changing patterns of infectious disease. “The only solution is to get rid of fossil fuels in power production, industry and transportation,” Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said upon releasing the report.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Announcing Energy in Depth in a 2009 </b>press release now removed from its website, the<b> Independent Petroleum Association of America described EID as a campaign to combat new environmental regulations, especially on hydraulic fracturing</b>. EID’s website includes fact sheets, videos and analysis, and promises to clearly explain oil and gas development while “straightening out the myths you may have hea</span>rd.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Although it’s not apparent from the EID website, many of the site’s writers are employees of<b> FTI Consulting</b>, a global consulting firm that has come under scrutiny for its work for oil and gas companies, Monsanto, Delta Air Lines and the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a front group created to stop universal health care. The documents reviewed by HuffPost provide further insight into the specific funders of EID and how FTI Consulting helps companies burnish their images.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At a 2014 oil and gas conference in Brazil, FTI explained how Energy in Depth helped generate and guide media “behind the scenes,” influencing hundreds of articles and opinion pieces. Most importantly, FTI claimed that the site and its surrogates had the ability “to say, do and write things that individual company employees cannot and should not.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At the IPAA’s 2017 retreat, an employee told members that the site is “a bunch of companies that have come together to fight some of this fake news that’s out there about our industry.” An attendee recorded the session and provided it to HuffPost.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“EID has now grown into what many consider the industry’s lead research and rapid response platform,” states an IPAA report presented at a June 2019 board of directors meeting. The report adds that EID helps beat back attempts to stop fossil fuel extraction and addresses research that finds fracking harmful.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">EID has posted several pages attacking the research of Harvard scholars Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran</span>, calling their published study that showed Exxon Mobil misled the public on the dangers of climate change “incomplete” and “activist.” In another example, EID points to Exxon Mobil-funded research to undermine the scholars’ studies.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“This EID case demonstrates that although fossil fuel companies now claim to support climate action, they continue to misrepresent scientific work in order to protect profits and protect themselves from liability or responsibility,” said Supran, a research fellow studying the history of science.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“When science threatens their interest, they attack or attempt to undermine it,” said Oreskes, a professor of history of science. “And when they can’t do that, they attempt to discredit the scientists who produced it.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Although fossil fuel companies now claim to support climate action, they continue to misrepresent scientific work in order to protect profits and protect themselves from liability or responsibility.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">- Geoffrey Supran, Harvard research fellow</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>On EID’s website, Rebecca Simons, field director for Energy In Depth-Mountain States,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> excoriated Lisa McKenzie, an assistant professor in the department of environmental and occupational health at the University of Colorado whose published studies find air pollution caused by fracking to be harmful to humans</span></b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In a Denver Pos<b>t op-ed,</b> Simons dismissed McKenzie’s research, writing that it allows “activists” to argue that “energy production is somehow a pernicious threat to public health.</span>” According to her LinkedIn page, Simons left FTI Consulting this year to join Encana, one of the energy firms that helped start EID.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“They attack anyone without using evidence,” said McKenzie. “They respond sometimes before they could even have read a study.” Earlier this month, public health scholars published a perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine noting that fracking is linked to water contamination, air pollution, radiation releases and ecosystem damage.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jeff Eshelman, senior vice president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and founder of EID, said in an interview that he was not familiar with the academics whom EID has criticized, but emphasized that <b>America now has the cleanest air in 20 years thanks to natural gas.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Since 1929, IPAA’s mission has been to tell the truth about the importance of America’s natural gas and oil resources to consumers and policy makers,” said Eshelman. “We are a 90-year-old advocacy association. That’s quite obvious and transparent.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Several of the fossil fuel companies behind Energy In Depth have made statements avowing the science on climate change and the need to take action.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“Burning fossil fuels is the primary contributor to CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere,” states<b> BP </b>in a handout on climate change.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“The world needs to take urgent action to tackle climate change,”<b> Shell</b> states on its website. “Our ambition is to make sure the energy we sell is in tune with society as it moves towards that goal.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HuffPost contacted the oil and gas companies that funded EID and asked them to explain their support for a group that attacks researchers working on climate change. Shell, BP and Chevron were asked to explain why they support such actions while simultaneously embracing the science on climate change.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“Your questions are better addressed to EID or IPAA,” said Ashley Alemayehu, a spokesperson for Exxon Mobil, the parent company of XTO Energy.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>“BP</b> has not provided funding or been a member of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) since January 2014,” wrote BP spokesperson Jason Ryan.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The other companies did not respond.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Eshelman told HuffPost that while his organization runs the EID website, he hired FTI Consulting to support it.<b> In the past, FTI Consulting worked on behalf of several companies to defeat fracking regulations in Europe.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Earlier this year, a member of the European Parliament complained about potential violations of lobbying transparency after FTI sent mailers to members of Parliament promising to donate 50 euros to UNICEF for answering a “perception audit” and agreeing to a meeting with FTI. FTI sent the letters on behalf of Eurogas, an association for Europe’s gas industry. And over the summer, a columnist at The Guardian referenced dozens of pages of internal court documents that pointed to<b> FTI as part of Monsanto’s plan to destroy the columnist’s reputation.</b></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We will have to refer you to IPAA for any comment on IPAA or EID,” said FTI spokesperson</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"> Matthew E. Bashalany.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> He added that FTI does not comment on clients, per company policy.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">While most Americans aren’t familiar with IPAA, the organization has <b>close ties to the Trump administration,</b> which denies much of the science on climate change. Shortly after Donald Trump took office, the<b> IPAA celebrated when he picked the group’s former attorney David Bernhardt for the No. 2 spot at the Department of the Interior.</b></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We know him very well, and we have direct access to him, have conversations with him about issues ranging from federal land access to endangered species, to a lot of issues,” the IPAA’s political director told a group of gathered industry representatives at the time, according to a secret recording of an IPAA meeting provided to the Center for Investigative Reporting.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump recently appointed Bernhardt as secretary of the Interior Department, and the IPAA has cultivated other powerful Trump appointees. A flyer for the IPAA’s annual <b>conference last month listed two Trump officials as speakers: Larry A.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, and Andrew Wheeler</span>, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“All of this — both the attacks themselves and individual companies’ efforts to conceal their involvement — tells me the industry is scared,” said Ben Franta, a Stanford graduate student whom EID targeted for noting that the fossil fuel industry has a history of hiding what it knows about climate change. “It’s scared of the truth. And it should be, because the truth doesn’t look good for the fossil fuel industry.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This story has been updated with comment from a BP spokesperson.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">----</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">lnx some</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...t the IPAA’s 2017 retreat, an employee told members that the site is “a bunch of companies that have come together to fight some of this fake news that’s out there about our industry.” An attendee recorded the session and provided it to HuffPost.</div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“EID has now grown into what many consider the industry’s lead research and rapid response platform,” <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6571148-IPAA-BOD-Meeting-2019.html" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="states an IPAA" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6571148-IPAA-BOD-Meeting-2019.html" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="9" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">states an IPAA</a> report presented at a June 2019 board of directors meeting. The report adds that EID helps beat back attempts to stop fossil fuel extraction and addresses research that finds fracking harmful.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">EID has posted several pages attacking the research of Harvard scholars Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran, calling their <a href="https://eidclimate.org/exposed-harvard-study-omitted-evidence-to-allege-exxonmobil-misled-public-on-climate/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="published study" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://eidclimate.org/exposed-harvard-study-omitted-evidence-to-allege-exxonmobil-misled-public-on-climate/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="10" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">published study</a> that showed Exxon Mobil misled the public on the dangers of climate change “incomplete” and “activist.” In another example, EID points to <a href="https://cdn.exxonmobil.com/_{/media/global/files/energy-and-environment/Neuendorf-Report.pdf}" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="Exxon Mobil-funded research" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://cdn.exxonmobil.com/_{/media/global/files/energy-and-environment/Neuendorf-Report.pdf}" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="11" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">Exxon Mobil-funded research</a> to undermine the scholars’ studies.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“This EID case demonstrates that although fossil fuel companies now claim to support climate action, they continue to misrepresent scientific work in order to protect profits and protect themselves from liability or responsibility,” said Supran, a research fellow studying the history of science.</p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">...on EID’s website, Rebecca Simons, <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/06/new-report-provides-facts-to-activist-health-concerns-on-oil-and-gas-developments/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="field director for Energy In Depth-Mountain States" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/06/new-report-provides-facts-to-activist-health-concerns-on-oil-and-gas-developments/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="12" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">field director for Energy In Depth-Mountain States</a>, excoriated Lisa McKenzie, an assistant professor in the department of environmental and occupational health at the University of Colorado whose published studies find air pollution caused by fracking to be harmful to humans. In a <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/06/new-report-provides-facts-to-activist-health-concerns-on-oil-and-gas-developments/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="Denver Post op-ed" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/06/new-report-provides-facts-to-activist-health-concerns-on-oil-and-gas-developments/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="13" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">Denver Post op-ed</a>, Simons dismissed McKenzie’s research, writing that it allows “activists” to argue that “energy production is somehow a pernicious threat to public health.” According to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-simons-72325324" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="her LinkedIn page" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-simons-72325324" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="14" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">her LinkedIn page</a>, Simons left FTI Consulting this year to join Encana, one of the energy firms that helped start EID.</p><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“They attack anyone without using evidence,” said McKenzie. “They respond sometimes before they could even have read a study.” Earlier this month, public health scholars published a <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1913663" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1913663" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="15" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine</a> noting that fracking is linked to water contamination, air pollution, radiation releases and ecosystem damage.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">Jeff Eshelman, senior vice president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and founder of EID, said in an interview that he was not familiar with the academics whom EID has criticized, but emphasized that America now has the cleanest air in 20 years thanks to natural gas.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“Since 1929, IPAA’s mission has been to tell the truth about the importance of America’s natural gas and oil resources to consumers and policy makers,” said Eshelman. “We are a 90-year-old advocacy association. That’s quite obvious and transparent.”</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">Several of the fossil fuel companies behind Energy In Depth have made statements avowing the science on climate change and the need to take action.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“Burning fossil fuels is the primary contributor to CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere,” <a href="https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp-country/en_au/about-us/what-we-do/climate-change-brochure.pdf" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="states BP" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp-country/en_au/about-us/what-we-do/climate-change-brochure.pdf" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="16" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">states BP</a> in a handout on climate change.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“The world needs to take urgent action to tackle climate change,” <a href="https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/what-is-shells-net-carbon-footprint-ambition.html" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="Shell states" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/what-is-shells-net-carbon-footprint-ambition.html" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="17" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">Shell states</a> on its website. “Our ambition is to make sure the energy we sell is in tune with society as it moves towards that goal.”</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">HuffPost contacted the oil and gas companies that funded EID and asked them to explain their support for a group that attacks researchers working on climate change. Shell, BP and Chevron were asked to explain why they support such actions while simultaneously embracing the science on climate change.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“Your questions are better addressed to EID or IPAA,” said Ashley Alemayehu, a spokesperson for Exxon Mobil, the parent company of XTO Energy....</p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">"BP has not provided funding or been a member of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) since January 2014,” wrote BP spokesperson Jason Ryan.</p><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">The other companies did not respond.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">Eshelman told HuffPost that while his organization runs the EID website, he hired FTI Consulting to support it. In the past, FTI Consulting <a href="https://books.google.es/books?id=CdKNDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT62&lpg=PT62&dq=cuadrilla+and+FTI+consulting&source=bl&ots=I5Bl6aN-EL&sig=ACfU3U18xG8b-mZysSi2bpHTTh5VukH7KA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM473dlormAhWPERQKHUbbBL4Q6AEwGHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=cuadrilla%20and%20FTI%20consulting&f=false" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="worked" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://books.google.es/books?id=CdKNDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT62&lpg=PT62&dq=cuadrilla+and+FTI+consulting&source=bl&ots=I5Bl6aN-EL&sig=ACfU3U18xG8b-mZysSi2bpHTTh5VukH7KA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM473dlormAhWPERQKHUbbBL4Q6AEwGHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=cuadrilla%20and%20FTI%20consulting&f=false" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="18" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">worked</a> on behalf of several companies to defeat fracking regulations in Europe. Earlier this year, a member of the European Parliament <a href="https://euobserver.com/institutional/145783" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="complained about potential violations" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://euobserver.com/institutional/145783" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="19" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">complained about potential violations</a> of lobbying transparency after FTI sent mailers to members of Parliament promising to donate 50 euros to UNICEF for answering a “perception audit” and agreeing to a meeting with FTI. FTI sent the letters on behalf of Eurogas, an association for Europe’s gas industry. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/08/monsanto-roundup-journalist-documents" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="And over the summer" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/08/monsanto-roundup-journalist-documents" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">And over the summer</a>, a columnist at The Guardian referenced dozens of pages of internal court documents that pointed to FTI as part of Monsanto’s plan to destroy the columnist’s reputation.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;"><b>“We will have to refer you to IPAA for any comment on IPAA or EID,” said FTI spokesperson Matthew E. Bashalany</b>. He added that FTI does not comment on clients, per company policy.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">While most Americans aren’t familiar with IPAA, the organization has close ties to the Trump administration, which denies much of the science on climate change. Shortly after Donald Trump took office, <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/oil-executives-predicted-expanded-influence-in-trumps-interior-department/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="the IPAA celebrated" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.revealnews.org/article/oil-executives-predicted-expanded-influence-in-trumps-interior-department/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="21" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">the IPAA celebrated</a> when he picked the group’s former attorney David Bernhardt for the No. 2 spot at the Department of the Interior.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“We know him very well, and we have direct access to him, have conversations with him about issues ranging from federal land access to endangered species, to a lot of issues,” the IPAA’s political director told a group of gathered industry representatives at the time, according to a <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/recording-reveals-oil-executives-laughing-about-unprecedented-access-to-trump/" target="blank" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="secret recording" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/03/recording-reveals-oil-executives-laughing-about-unprecedented-access-to-trump/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="22" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">secret recording</a> of an IPAA meeting provided to the Center for Investigative Reporting.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">Trump recently appointed Bernhardt as secretary of the Interior Department, and the IPAA has cultivated other powerful Trump appointees. A <a href="https://www.ipaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-IPAA-90th-Annual-Meeting-Schedule_members.pdf" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="flyer for the IPAA’s annual conference" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://www.ipaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-IPAA-90th-Annual-Meeting-Schedule_members.pdf" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="23" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">flyer for the IPAA’s annual conference</a> last month listed two Trump officials as speakers: Larry A. Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, and Andrew Wheeler, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.</p></div><div class="primary-cli cli cli-text " style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: none;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.56;">“All of this — both the attacks themselves and individual companies’ efforts to conceal their involvement — tells me the industry is scared,” said Ben Franta, a Stanford graduate student whom <a href="https://eidclimate.org/something-tells-us-this-attempt-by-activists-to-make-apiknew-a-thing-is-going-to-fail-again/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="EID targeted" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5df7eff6e4b0ae01a1e59371" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="https://eidclimate.org/something-tells-us-this-attempt-by-activists-to-make-apiknew-a-thing-is-going-to-fail-again/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="article_body" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="24" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-shadow: rgb(0, 90, 255) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: background-color 0.3s ease 0s;">EID targeted</a> for noting that the fossil fuel industry has a history of hiding what it knows about climate change. “It’s scared of the truth. And it should be, because the truth doesn’t look good for the fossil fuel industry.”</p></div></div></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">= </font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Matthew Bashalany</b>  3rd degree connection3rd</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Global Media Relations Lead at FTI Consulting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FTI Consulting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston, Massachusetts, United States  Contact info</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">500+ connections</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I am a public relations and communications professional who has significant experience in the professional services industry. I have managed global media relations campaigns for financial services and legal practices, securing coverage in top-tier media outlets and industry trade publications. I have previous experience as a newspaper and online reporter, so I understand the demands of the deadline-driven news industry and how to tailor a communications strategy accordingly. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent FTI Consulting’s positions, strategies or opinions</b>.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I am a public relations and communications professional who has significant experience in the professional services industry. I have managed global media relations campaigns for financial services and legal practices, securing coverage in top-tier media outlets and industry trade publications. I have previous experience as a newspaper and online reporter, so I understand the demands of the deadline-driven news industry and how to tailor a communications strategy accordingly. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent FTI Consulting’s positions, strategies or opinions.…see more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FeaturedFeatured</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PostPost</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pleased to share that FTI Consulting has been named one of  hashtag<b>#AmericasMostJUST  Companies of 2022</b> by JUST Capital and <b>CNBC</b>! https://lnkd.in/eZ7Uq-2Z  hashtag#TeamFTI</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No alternative text description for this image</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">likecelebrate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PostPost</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How can airports assist with the energy transition? Miriam Wrobel of FTI Consulting discusses <b>solar power financing</b> and the use of solar arrays at airports with  The New York Times :</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Seeking Space for Solar Farms, Cities Find Room at Their Airports</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nytimes.com • Subscription may be required</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">like</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PostPost</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lisa O'Connor RN,MS spoke with  The New York Times  about the impact that distributing N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile could have on hospitals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Biden Will Provide 400 Million N95 Masks for Free Starting Next Week</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nytimes.com • Subscription may be required</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">like</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 comment</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PostPost</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FTI Consulting restructuring experts Omar Aguilar and Robert Del Genio discuss the post-bankruptcy emergence for corporates and whether the companies are armed with the tools for post-Chapter 11 success in this episode of the Debtwired podcast. Thanks to the Debtwire team for hosting the conversation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Debtwired | Post-bankruptcy insights with FTI’s Omar Aguilar and Robert Del Genio</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fticonsulting.social • 1 min read</font></div><div><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Follow</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Bashalany posted this • 2d2d</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jim Wrynn and Bob Stephens from FTI Consulting's Global Insurance Services practice take a look at best practices for New York climate risk compliance in this  Law360  article:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Insurer Best Practices For NY Climate Risk Compliance - Law360</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">law360.com • Subscription may be required</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">like</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Bashalany commented on a post • 1w1w</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congratulations Tim!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">likelovecelebrate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">192</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">35 comments</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Bashalany posted this • 3w3w</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to  Axios , it's a<b> seller's market for solar</b>. Chris LeWand, leader of the Power, Renewables & Utilities practice at FTI Consulting, spoke with Alan Neuhauser about what he is seeing in the marketplace. (subscription required)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Solar energy is for sellers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">axios.com • 1 min read</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">like</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Show all activity</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">FTI ConsultingFTI Consulting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">5 yrs 11 mos 5 yrs 11 mos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Managing Director of Media Relations & CommunicationsManaging Director of Media Relations & Communications</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mar 2021 - Present · 1 yr 3 mosMar 2021 - Present · 1 yr 3 mos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston, Massachusetts, United StatesBoston, Massachusetts, United States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Lead global public relations and social media team for a business advisory firm. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Serve as primary spokesperson for the firm. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Develop PR strategies for senior company leadership and business segments.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Create and manage global media strategies for firmwide initiatives and coordinate rollout with regional colleagues. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Manage relationships with U.S. and international media. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Lead crisis communications and issues management globally. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Assist with executive communications, speechwriting and internal communications.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Collaborate with investor relations, internal communications and corporate citizenship teams to ensure consistent messaging. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-Manage annual PR team budget and relationships with agencies and vendors. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>FTI Consulting, Inc.</b> is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes: financial, legal, operational, political & regulatory, reputational and transactional. FTI Consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges and make the most of opportunities.-Lead global public relations and social media team for a business advisory firm. -Serve as primary spokesperson for the firm. -Develop PR strategies for senior company leadership and business segments. -Create and manage global media strategies for firmwide initiatives and coordinate rollout with regional colleagues. -Manage relationships with U.S. and international media. -Lead crisis communications and issues management globally. -Assist with executive communications, speechwriting and internal communications. -Collaborate with investor relations, internal communications and corporate citizenship teams to ensure consistent messaging. -Manage annual PR team budget and relationships with agencies and vendors. FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes: financial, legal, operational, political & regulatory, reputational and transactional. FTI Consulting professionals work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges and make the most of opportunities.…see more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Director, Corporate CommunicationsDirector, Corporate Communications</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mar 2019 - Mar 2021 · 2 yrs 1 moMar 2019 - Mar 2021 · 2 yrs 1 mo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston, Massachusetts, United StatesBoston, Massachusetts, United States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senior Manager, Corporate CommunicationsSenior Manager, Corporate Communications</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jul 2016 - Mar 2019 · 2 yrs 9 mosJul 2016 - Mar 2019 · 2 yrs 9 mos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greater Boston AreaGreater Boston Area</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EY logo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Global Media Relations ManagerGlobal Media Relations Manager</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EYEY</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nov 2014 - Jul 2016 · 1 yr 9 mosNov 2014 - Jul 2016 · 1 yr 9 mos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston, Massachusetts, United StatesBoston, Massachusetts, United States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Managed public relations strategies for global Banking & Capital Markets, Insurance, Wealth & Asset Management, Real Estate, and Private Equity groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coordinated with EY's global PR network to manage international media campaigns and launches.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Engaged with key international media to maintain EY's profile in global press.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Managed activities of an external PR agency.Managed public relations strategies for global Banking & Capital Markets, Insurance, Wealth & Asset Management, Real Estate, and Private Equity groups. Coordinated with EY's global PR network to manage international media campaigns and launches. Engaged with key international media to maintain EY's profile in global press. Managed activities of an external PR agency.…see more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisory, Assurance, Tax, Transaction ServicesAdvisory, Assurance, Tax, Transaction Services</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EY provides global services to help you retain the confidence of investors, manage your risk, strengthen your controls and achieve your potential.EY provides global services to help you retain the confidence of investors, manage your risk, strengthen your controls and achieve your potential.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bingham McCutchen LLP logo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Relations EditorPublic Relations Editor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bingham McCutchen LLPBingham McCutchen LLP</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">May 2012 - Oct 2014 · 2 yrs 6 mosMay 2012 - Oct 2014 · 2 yrs 6 mos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston, Massachusetts, United StatesBoston, Massachusetts, United States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Focused on proactive media relations efforts for the firm's M&A, technology, investment management, hedge funds, private equity, financial regulatory, real estate, and structured transactions practices.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Supported public relations efforts for a global law firm, including handling reporter requests for comment and interviews; drafting talking points and preparing lawyers and firm leaders for interviews; writing press releases for media distribution; and assisting in creating public relations strategies. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oversaw the firm's credentialing, survey and rankings process, ensuring the firm was recognized in the publications that reached our target audiences. Identified areas to streamline and improve firm's internal procedures in this area.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wrote content for internal and external websites and oversaw content on the homepage of the external website.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Managed the firm's day-to-day social media efforts. Provided suggestions for content and programming that resulted in a three-fold increase in Twitter followers within one year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Managed a communications specialist who assisted with surveys and rankings, writing, and media relations efforts.Focused on proactive media relations efforts for the firm's M&A, technology, investment management, hedge funds, private equity, financial regulatory, real estate, and structured transactions practices. Supported public relations efforts for a global law firm, including handling reporter requests for comment and interviews; drafting talking points and preparing lawyers and firm leaders for interviews; writing press releases for media distribution; and assisting in creating public relations strategies. Oversaw the firm's credentialing, survey and rankings process, ensuring the firm was recognized in the publications that reached our target audiences. Identified areas to streamline and improve firm's internal procedures in this area. Wrote content for internal and external websites and oversaw content on the homepage of the external website. Managed the firm's day-to-day social media efforts. Provided suggestions for content and programming that resulted in a three-fold increase in Twitter followers within one year. Managed a communications specialist who assisted with surveys and rankings, writing, and media relations efforts.…see more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Foley Hoag LLP </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Relations CoordinatorPublic Relations Coordinator</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Foley Hoag LLPFoley Hoag LLP</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">May 2011 - May 2012 · 1 yr 1 moMay 2011 - May 2012 · 1 yr 1 mo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston, Massachusetts, United StatesBoston, Massachusetts, United States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Supported public relations efforts for a law firm with offices in Boston, Washington and Paris. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oversaw firm's survey and ranking process, serving as the liaison between publications and the appropriate internal content and subject-matter experts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coordinated public relations efforts between internal firm constituencies and external public relations agency.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wrote press releases, website content and social media posts on a daily basis.Supported public relations efforts for a law firm with offices in Boston, Washington and Paris. Oversaw firm's survey and ranking process, serving as the liaison between publications and the appropriate internal content and subject-matter experts. Coordinated public relations efforts between internal firm constituencies and external public relations agency. Wrote press releases, website content and social media posts on a daily basis.…see more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Patch.com </b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Local EditorLocal Editor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Patch.comPatch.com</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oct 2010 - Apr 2011 · 7 mos<b>Oct 2010 - Apr 2011 · 7 mos</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Reading, Massachusetts, United StatesNorth Reading, Massachusetts, United States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oversaw the successful launch of North Reading Patch, a daily news website dedicated to covering the town of North Reading, MA. Produced content that led to more than 10,000 unique visitors to the site in the third month of operation, out of a town of 14,000 people. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Covered town government, business, and police and fire news. Assigned stories to a team of freelancers and oversaw their work. Edited and produced videos for the site. Managed social media outreach. Responsible for assisting on marketing and promoting the website within the community.Oversaw the successful launch of North Reading Patch, a daily news website dedicated to covering the town of North Reading, MA. Produced content that led to more than 10,000 unique visitors to the site in the third month of operation, out of a town of 14,000 people. Covered town government, business, and police and fire news. Assigned stories to a team of freelancers and oversaw their work. Edited and produced videos for the site. Managed social media outreach. Responsible for assisting on marketing and promoting the website within the community.…see more</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Show all 11 experiences</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Education</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University logo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse UniversityS.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">B.S., Newspaper; political science minorB.S., Newspaper; political science minor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1999 - 20031999 - 2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Activities and societies: Sigma Alpha Mu, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications peer advisingActivities and societies: Sigma Alpha Mu, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications peer advising</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nashua High School South logo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nashua High School SouthNashua High School South</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sep 1996 - Jun 1999Sep 1996 - Jun 1999</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">VolunteeringVolunteering</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana-Farber Cancer Institute logo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team memberDana-Farber Marathon Challenge team member</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteDana-Farber Cancer Institute</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dec 2011 - Apr 2015 · 3 yrs 5 mosDec 2011 - Apr 2015 · 3 yrs 5 mos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HealthHealth</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Raised money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and ran the Boston Marathon in 2012 and 2014. Volunteered with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team during the 2013 and 2015 training seasons. Raised money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and ran the Boston Marathon in 2012 and 2014. Volunteered with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team during the 2013 and 2015 training seasons. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media Relations and Social Media Relations CommitteeMedia Relations and Social Media Relations Committee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Relations Society of America Boston ChapterPublic Relations Society of America Boston Chapter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jan 2016 - Jan 2021 · 5 yrs 1 moJan 2016 - Jan 2021 · 5 yrs 1 mo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Promote the PRSA Boston Chapter through the local media and social media.Promote the PRSA Boston Chapter through the local media and social media.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SkillsSkills</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media RelationsMedia Relations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">· 24· 24</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endorsed by Joshua Peck and 1 other who is highly skilled at thisEndorsed by Joshua Peck and 1 other who is highly skilled at this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endorsed by 2 colleagues at EYEndorsed by 2 colleagues at EY</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Strategic CommunicationsStrategic Communications</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">· 16· 16</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endorsed by Jill Reilly and 1 other who is highly skilled at thisEndorsed by Jill Reilly and 1 other who is highly skilled at this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endorsed by 2 colleagues at EYEndorsed by 2 colleagues at EY</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public RelationsPublic Relations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">· 11· 11</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endorsed by Clodagh Boyle who is highly skilled at thisEndorsed by Clodagh Boyle who is highly skilled at this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endorsed by 2 colleagues at EYEndorsed by 2 colleagues at EY</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Show all 28 skills</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RecommendationsRecommendations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ReceivedReceived</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GivenGiven</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jill Baker profile picture</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jill BakerJill Baker</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">· 3rdThird degree connection</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">VP, Practice Director at GenuineVP, Practice Director at Genuine</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">June 7, 2011, Jill worked with Matthew but on different teamsJune 7, 2011, Jill worked with Matthew but on different teams</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Working with Matt was wonderful - he was always professional, patient, and considerate. He is very smart, and picked up technical skills quickly. He never balked at taking on new responsibilities, and was always willing to take a moment to answer a question or talk something through. I recommend him without hesitation.Working with Matt was wonderful - he was always professional, patient, and considerate. He is very smart, and picked up technical skills quickly. He never balked at taking on new responsibilities, and was always willing to take a moment to answer a question or talk something through. I recommend him without hesitation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">InterestsInterests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">InfluencersInfluencers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CompaniesCompanies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GroupsGroups</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SchoolsSchools</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jeff Weiner profile picture</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jeff WeinerJeff Weiner</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">· 3rdThird degree connection</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Executive Chairman at LinkedIn / Founding Partner Next Play VenturesExecutive Chairman at LinkedIn / Founding Partner Next Play Ventures</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10,699,227 followers10,699,227 followers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mohamed El-Erian profile picture</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mohamed El-ErianMohamed El-Erian</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President at Queens' College, CambridgePresident at Queens' College, Cambridge</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2,568,712 followers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mollie Hawkes  3rd degree connection3rd</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Head of Investor Relations & Communications at FTI Consulting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tenechia White  out of network3rd+</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Customer Service Specialist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matt Bacsardi  3rd degree connection3rd</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chief Counsel, US Operations at FTI Consulting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Avin Chakravarti  3rd degree connection3rd</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Analytics Manager</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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