Domestic Energy Producers Alliance

<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/21425">http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/21425</a>

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/The%20Miracle%20of%20American%20Oil-%20Drilling%20Our%20Way%20to%20Freedom%20from%20Foreign%20Oil.pdf">document</a> published by the Public Relations Society of America, discovered by DeSmog, reveals that from the onset of its public relations campaign, the oil industry courted mainstream media reporters to help it sell the idea of lifting the ban on crude oil exports to the American public and policymakers.

Calling its campaign the “Miracle of American Oil,” the <a target="blank" href="https://marcellus.com/news/id/133522/long-awaited-repeal-of-export-ban-signed-into-law/">successful</a> PR <a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/12/16/corporate-lobbyists-big-money-oil-exports-ban">effort to push for Congress and the White House to lift the oil exports ban</a> was spearheaded by Continental Resources, a company known as the “<a target="blank" href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/08/24/continental-resources-king-of-the-bakken.aspx">King of the Bakken</a>” shale oil basin and founded by Harold Hamm. Hamm <a target="blank" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hamm-romney-profile-idUSBRE88J12L20120921">served</a> as energy advisor to 2012 Republican Party presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Image Credit: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/The%20Miracle%20of%20American%20Oil-%20Drilling%20Our%20Way%20to%20Freedom%20from%20Foreign%20Oil.pdf">Public Relations Society of America</a>

The campaign launched on December 16, 2013, the 40th anniversary of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo, and won the <a target="blank" href="https://www.prsa.org/Awards/SilverAnvil/index.html#.VnhorpMrJPM">prestigious </a><a target="blank" href="https://www.prsa.org/Awards/SilverAnvil/index.html#.VnhorpMrJPM">PRSA</a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.prsa.org/Awards/SilverAnvil/index.html#.VnhorpMrJPM"> Silver Anvil Award</a>.

According to the document, submitted to PRSA to detail the logistics and reach of the PR effort, it was “designed to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies — at the local, state or federal government levels.”

And it all began with a kick-off dinner in Washington, D.C., hosted by Continental Resources and attended by some of the most influential mainstream media energy reporters in the United States.

Regular readers of the Washington oil and gas industry beat will find the names of the dinner attendees, disclosed in the document, familiar.

“The campaign not only served as a catalyst to correct public misconceptions, but it also propelled crude oil exports to the top of the U.S. Senate’s agenda,” Continental boasted on the PRSA document.

While the document fails to note when and where the dinner unfolded, <a target="_blank" href="http://topics.wsj.com/person/H/amy-harder/7954">Amy Harder</a>, one of the reporters in attendance, revealed the details.

In a <a target="blank" href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/end-of-oil-export-ban-provides-blueprint-for-bipartisan-compromise-1450521004">December 20 Wall Street Journal article</a> offering an overview and inside look at the industry's exports crusade, Harder revealed that the dinner took place at Washington, D.C.'s <a target="blank" href="http://www.hayadams.com/washington-dc-hotel-gallery">ostentatious 5-star Hay-Adams Hotel</a> in October 2013 and Harold Hamm attended the meeting.

Harder ended up publishing two <a target="blank" href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/s/68353/amid-oil-boom-petroleum-exports-surge?mref=scroll">exports</a> <a target="blank" href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/2014/01/06/lobbying-rift-brewing-over-oil-export-ban">articles</a> favorable to the industry's point of view in the few months after being invited to the exclusive Hay-Adams Hotel dinner.

Asked for more details about the dinner, Harder told DeSmog via email that she did not “feel comfortable sharing with you any more information about the dinner,” also denying her attendance there shaped the slant of her articles.

One of Harder's articles published in January 2014 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/2014/01/06/lobbying-rift-brewing-over-oil-export-ban">offers more dinner details</a>, noting it “was organized by the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance” (DEPA) and attended by “other domestic-energy executives” beyond just Hamm.

DEPA has spent $75,000 lobbying for Congress to lift the oil exports ban in 2015, according to lobbying disclosure forms reviewed by DeSmog.

U.S. Rep. Martin Frost; Photo Credit: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frost#/media/File:MartinFrost.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>

<a target="blank" href="http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=CC4854CF-5BB9-44B2-BF0D-1C42900BBAF4&filingTypeID=60">One of the lobbyists</a> deployed by DEPA, <a target="blank" href="https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=24652">David Crane</a> of <a target="blank" href="http://littlesis.org/org/17011/Quadripoint_Strategies_LLC">Quadripoint Strategies </a><a target="blank" href="http://littlesis.org/org/17011/Quadripoint_Strategies_LLC">LLC</a>, formerly worked as senior policy advisor for U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and U.S. Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS). DEPA also deployed former <a target="blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frost">U.S.</a><a target="blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frost"> Rep. Martin Frost (D-</a><a target="blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frost">TX</a><a target="blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Frost">)</a> to <a target="_blank" href="http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=68913507-E261-4458-94C8-93429E274B9B&filingTypeID=69">lobby on its behalf</a> on the issue.

The DEPA coalition has also given U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) $10,000 in <a target="blank" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00484725&cycle=2014">campaign</a> <a target="blank" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00484725">money</a> since the 2014 electoral cycle, the first campaign cycle of her first term that began in January 2013. Heitkamp has positioned herself as <a target="_blank" href="http://www.willistonherald.com/business/heitkamp-talks-about-behind-the-scenes-maneuvers-to-lift-/article_fb339036-a672-11e5-8cc0-9f085534f528.html">among the most outspoken</a> members of Congress in support of lifting the ban.

DEPA has also utilized the “miracle” language in its <a target="blank" href="http://www.depausa.org/page_images/1447884702.pdf" style=" line-height: 17.6px;">advocacy</a> <a target="blank" href="http://depausa.org/lift-the-ban/lift-the-export-ban" style=" line-height: 17.6px;">materials</a> associated with the push to lift the oil exports ban.

Months after the dinner, Hamm <a target="blank" href="http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=5c484d64-7ccf-4385-8bd9-458288de2968" style=" line-height: 1.1em;">testified</a> at a <a target="blank" href="http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=4257c751-1911-4467-aaa5-0ff7863777fa" style=" line-height: 1.1em;">hearing</a> in front of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, calling for an end to the oil exports ban. Metadata from that testimony reviewed by DeSmog shows his speech was written by the then-director of public relations for Continental, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.oskocommunications.com/Bio.html" style=" line-height: 1.1em;">Mary Ann Osko</a>.

Image Credit: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=5c484d64-7ccf-4385-8bd9-458288de2968">U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee</a>

According to a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-21/it-s-about-the-economy-foes-of-u-s-oil-export-ban-preached">story published by Bloomberg</a>, Hamm “visited Capitol Hill almost weekly and testified at some of the at least nine congressional hearings on exports.”

<h3>Rebranding Fracking: “Horizontal Drilling”</h3>

Continental also made a concerted effort to pivot away from using the term “<a target="_blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/fracking-the-future/">fracking</a>,” opting instead to use term “horizontal drilling” to describe the hydraulic fracturing technique.

“The PR team’s objectives to showcase the benefits of America’s oil and natural gas renaissance, change the vernacular from fracking to horizontal drilling, and launch crude oil exports to the top of the U.S. policy agenda were all achieved,” explained Continental in the document (emphasis added).

Continental's diction choice has a basis in the scholarly literature on the topic.

A July 2013 survey-based study by Louisiana State University (LSU) Public Policy Research Lab professors <a target="_blank" href="https://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/pprl/files/2012/07/National-Fracking-Report-7-24-13-Public-Policy-Research-Lab-at-LSU.pdf">concluded</a> that “the unpleasant sound of the word 'Fracking' might be partially responsible for view of the safety of the process” and that those “who did not hear the word…are more likely to say they think the process is safe.”

An earlier study done by the PR firm Gregory FCA came to similar conclusions.

“The very term 'fracking' has a negative connotation…The industry needs to identify negatively charged words and replace them with positive language,” reads a February 2011 Gregory FCA <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.gregoryfca.com/2011/02/are-we-winning-or-losing-public.html">blog post</a>. “The industry needs to control the story by controlling the lexicon through creative, positive words that tell a vivid story and lock out the language of critics.”

Hamm used the term “horizontal drilling” five times during his January 2014 congressional testimony and an additional four times in a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/10/16/oil-billionaire-harold-hamm-on-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-opec-embargo/">Forbes opinion piece Hamm published</a> advocating for a lift of the U.S. oil exports ban.

The company also emphasized that this is a “renaissance” and not a “boom” in its PR efforts. Booms often go bust, as we have <a target="blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/12/16/report-eagle-ford-shale-peaked-oil-exports" style=" line-height: 17.6px;">shown on DeSmog</a> repeatedly, most recently in the case of <a target="blank" href="http://www.postcarbon.org/publications/bakken-reality-check/" style=" line-height: 17.6px;">where the Bakken may be headed</a>.

Continental representatives also repeatedly used the term “renaissance” in <a target="blank" href="http://www.timesrecordnews.com/business/oil-mogul-says-us-is-close-to-energy-independence-ep-361607830-340593161.html">media</a> <a target="blank" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2012/03/21/harold-hamm-has-a-vision-of-americas-energy-independence-he-has-mitt-romneys-ear-too/">appearances</a>, during <a target="blank" href="http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/Minutes/Senate/Exhibits/tas49a10.pdf">state-level</a> and <a target="blank" href="http://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Hamm%20Testimony1.pdf">federal-level</a> <a target="blank" href="http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=5c484d64-7ccf-4385-8bd9-458288de2968">legislative</a> <a target="blank" href="http://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hamm_testimony.pdf">testimony</a>, at <a target="blank" href="https://calendar.mst.edu/EventList.aspx?fromdate=4/7/2014&todate=4/7/2014&display=Day&type=public&eventidn=29094&view=EventDetails&information_id=81326">public speaking events</a>, on a <a target="blank" href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/3156646-continental-resources-clr-ceo-harold-hamm-on-q1-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript">company earnings call</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.contres.com/about">on the company's website</a>.

DEPA also utilizes the “renaissance” language on its <a target="blank" href="http://depausa.org/lift-the-ban/lift-the-export-ban">advocacy website</a>, <a target="blank" href="http://depausa.org/page_images/1447884650.pdf">PowerPoint presentations</a>, <a target="blank" href="http://depausa.org/news/lift-crude-export-ban-or-continue-to-put-american-energy-renaissance-at-risk-depa-chairman-harold-hamm-says">press releases</a>, <a target="blank" href="http://journalrecord.com/2015/11/13/mcdonald-dont-stop-the-renaissance-opinion/">newspaper</a> <a target="blank" href="http://newsok.com/article/3858477">editorials</a> and in <a target="blank" href="http://www.depausa.org/page_images/1421160044.pdf">letters</a> written to policymakers. DEPA had little to say in response to questions sent via email by DeSmog.

“I can tell you that DEPA is very proud of the bipartisan work to educate we have done and will continue to do regarding all forms of energy,” Peter Regan, DEPA's executive director, told DeSmog.

<h3>Continental Responds</h3>

Lifting the oil exports ban is something Oil Change International called tantamount to <a target="blank" href="http://priceofoil.org/2015/07/21/lift-export-ban-cook-climate/" style=" line-height: 1.1em;">cooking the climate</a>, an analysis also <a target="blank" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/crude-oil-exports-10-15-2015.html" style=" line-height: 1.1em;">shared by the Center for Biological Diversity</a> and others.

But when asked by DeSmog if Continental believed climate change was an issue, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.contres.com/about/leadership/kristin-thomas-miskovsky">Kristin Thomas</a>, vice president of public relations for Continental, said the company “doesn't take an official position on the issue.”

Instead, Thomas pointed to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Continental%20Resources%20Corporate%20Responsibility%20Report.pdf" style=" line-height: 15.4px;">Continental's corporate responsibility report</a>, which does not mention climate change or global warming. Climate change impacts of lifting the export ban, unsurprisingly, did not make it into Continental's PR narrative pitch to reporters.

Thomas also denied that the PR campaign was, at its core, geared toward gaining Continental and the oil industry favorable publicity.

“This is not about seeking press coverage to portray someone in a positive light,” she said in an email. “This is a topic that was and is very important.”

<a target="_blank" href="http://staff.ithaca.edu/mstephens/">Maura Stephens</a>, associate director of the Park Center for Independent Journalism at Ithaca College, disagrees.

“Some mainstream reporters are obviously being directed by their editors and producers to simply parrot whatever industry spokespersons and corrupt politicians say,” Stephens told DeSmog.

“And apparently U.S. policymakers are incapable of or disinterested in distinguishing between PR propaganda and scientific and economic evidence. This type of travesty highlights how critical to democracy it is that more people tune into independent, non-corporate-run news sources.”

Image Credit: <a target="blank" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-333832694/stock-photo-miracles-road-sign-against-clear-blue-sky.html?src=JLz8y3wfVUM-wzzuR98FIA-1-3">Shutterstock</a> | <a target="blank" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-504736p1.html">Aleksandar Mijatovic</a>

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<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22493">Kristin Thomas</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/8727">horizontal drilling</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22482">Quadripoint Strategies</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/921">david crane</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/21425">Domestic Energy Producers Alliance</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22478">Louisiana State University</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/15235">Amy Harder</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22469">Hay Adams Hotel</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/6311">Washington DC</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22470">U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22471">United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22472">Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/1144">U.S. Senate</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/1589">Senate</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/1503">united states</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22473">US Oil Exports Ban</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22474">United States Oil Exports</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/15545">US Oil Exports</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22475">United States Oil Exports Ban</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22465">Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5157">media</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/9460">journalism</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7278">Mainstream Media</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/6657">Corporate Media</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/tags/wall-street-journal">wall street journal</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/tags/public-relations">Public Relations</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/tags/propaganda">propaganda</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/21760">public relations society of america</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/9364">Oil Exports</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5612">crude oil</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/16175">Crude Oil Exports</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/22464">Miracle of American Oil</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/9859">Harold Hamm</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/9643">Romney</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/2257">mitt romney</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/15658">Continental Resources</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/7277">shale oil</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5565">shale gas</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/8931">unconventional oil</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/6344">unconventional gas</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/2800">natural gas</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/13460">Fracked Oil</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/11211">fracked gas</a></div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div>

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=Oklahoma energy companies were there, according to an agenda, joined by executives from Peabody Energy of Missouri, the world’s largest private-sector coal producer, as well as the SouthernCompany, which has aggressively challenged federal air pollution mandates. The nation’s top corporate energy regulatory lawyers were there, too, including F. William Brownell, a senior partner at the law firm Hunton & Williams, which has spent more than 25 years fighting the enforcement of the Clean Air Act. The event was organized by an energy-industry-funded law and economics center at George Mason University of Virginia. The center is part of the brain trust of conservative, pro-industry groups that have worked from the sidelines to help Mr. Pruitt and other attorneys general. And there was nothing ambiguous about the agenda. “Suggested Responses to Assaults on Federalism” was the topic of one breakfast meeting, moderated by Attorney General Wayne K. Stenehjem of North Dakota, that showcased Mr. Brownell and three other top corporate regulatory lawyers. Mr. Hamm was the featured dinner speaker. “We need to ensure the robust role of the states,” said Paul M. Seby, another coal industry lawyer who attended. “And as the chief law enforcement officers, it is not surprising this is becoming a cornerstone of attorney generals’ attention.” Attorneys general said they had no choice but to team up with corporate America. “When the federal government oversteps its legal authority and takes actions that hurt our businesses and residents, it’s entirely appropriate for us to partner with the adversely affected private entities in fighting back,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida,whose top deputy attended the meeting. A ‘Strike Force’ The impact of the gathering was immediate. A week later, a new Federalism in Environmental Policy task force was established by lawyers in the offices of 19 state attorneys general, according to email records obtained from the office of Attorney General Timothy C. Fox of Montana, who had participated in the Oklahoma meeting. “This message is in follow-up to the excellent environmental conference put on last week by George Mason University and hosted by the Oklahoma attorney general’s office,” said one email sent by Katie Spohn, the deputy attorney general in Nebraska. “In order to continue our coordination of efforts regarding Federalism in Environmental Policy, I am seeking input from each state who participated in the conference.” PATRICK MORRISEY The West Virginia attorney general got a draft bill from a coal industry lawyer.  Mr. Miller was pleased. “Just the kind of strike force I was talking about,” he said in an interview. And the input poured forth. The states worked to detail major federal environmental action, like efforts to curb fish kills, reduce ozone pollution, slow climate change and tighten regulation of coal ash. Then they identified which attorney general’s office was best positioned to try to monitor it and, if necessary, attempt to block it. Follow-up by Mr. Pruitt’s federalism office often came after coordination with industry representatives, especially from Devon Energy. The company, one of the most important financial supporters for the Republican Attorneys General Association, is guarded about its public profile. But it readily turned to Mr. Pruitt and his staff for help, setting up meetings for the attorney general with its chief executive, its chief lobbyist and other important players. “We have a clear obligation to our shareholders and others to be involved in these discussions,” John Porretto, a Devon spokesman, said in a statement. While some of the exchanges were general in character, others were quite explicit, especially the communication about the E.P.A.’s methane regulations that had prompted Mr. Whitsitt, the Devon official, to propose that Mr. Pruitt send a letter to the agency. “Just a note to pass along the electronic version of the draft letter to Lisa Jackson at E.P.A.,” said one September 2011 letter to Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff from Mr. Whitsitt. “We have no pride of authorship, so whatever you do on this is fine.” Mr. Pruitt took the letter and, after changing just 37 words in the 1,016-word draft, copied it onto his state government letterhead and sent it to Ms. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator. That was just one of his challenges to Washington. Devon officials also turned to Mr. Pruitt to enlist other Republican attorneys general and Republican governors to oppose a rule proposed by the Bureau of Land Management that would regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on federal land. “As promised, we are sending you the attached draft of the R.G.A./RAGA follow-up letter to President Obama opposing B.L.M.’s proposed rule,” Brent Rockwood, Devon’s director of government affairs, wrote to Mr. Pruitt’s staff in late 2012, in an email marked “confidential.” Weeks later, that letter was sent to Mr. Obama without only a few word changes, signed by Mr. Pruitt and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who was the head of the Republican Governors Association at the time. ANDREW P. MILLER A version of the lobbyist’s bill was approved by the West Virginia Legislature.  Company officials again expressed their pleasure to Mr. Pruitt. “I’ve learned that we’re having an effect — and may be able to have more, perhaps even to having the rule withdrawn or shifted to almost a reporting-only one,” Mr. Whitsitt wrote, in another email marked “confidential.” The rule — which the industry claims would cost $346 million a year to comply with — has still not been issued. Coordination between the corporations and teams of attorneys general involved in the Rule of Law effort also involves actual litigation to try to clear roadblocks to energy projects, documents show. Energy producers, for instance, wanted to sue the Interior Department as it considered adding animals such as the sage grouse — which nests near sites of oil and gas drilling — to a list of endangered species, a move that could put tens of thousands of acres off limits to new drilling. The energy companies could have sued on their own, but their executives believed that the case would be more potent by bringing in Mr. Pruitt and the weight of the State of Oklahoma. “We just came to the conclusion he would be the best person to be the lead attorney on this,” said Mike McDonald, an owner of Triad Energy, a small oil and gas exploration company, and the president of a group that calls itself the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance. “He has exceeded our expectations.” For the industry, the state is an extremely valued partner because states are granted “special solicitude” from the federal courts, a critical advantage to private companies that helps confer legal standing and means that a matter is less likely to be dismissed. Mr. Pruitt’s office, in a statement to The Times, rejected any suggestion that the attorney general has been wrong to send to Washington comment letters written by industry lobbyists, or to take up their side in litigation. “The A.G.’s office seeks input from the energy industry to determine real-life harm stemming from proposed federal regulations or actions,” the statement said. “It is the content of the request not the source of the request that is relevant.”

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