Texas and New Mexico ‘Energy Citizens’ Events Are Really “Energy Employees” Rallies

onAug 20, 2009 @ 14:52 PDT

Oil industry employees continued their ‘Energy Citizens’ tour today in conservative towns in New Mexico, after holding a “glorified company picnic” in Houston on Tuesday. Local New Mexico blog FBIHOP reports that the API/NAM/Chamber of Commerce/FreedomWorks/Big Oil astroturf rallies will take place today in Roswell and tomorrow in Farmington – “they will hold their meetings before going out and claiming these were grassroots efforts.”

NMFBIHOP aptly called the Houston Astroturf event an “energy employees rally,” a more fitting description of the closed door event that drew somewhere between 2,500-3,500 oil industry employees who were bussed in and given yellow ‘Energy Citizen’ t-shirts in “another high-priced photo op for the oil and gas industry.”

Today’s event in Roswell was reportedly organized by the DW Turner PR firm, which represents BP and Chevron. Chevron played a central role in the Houston rally as well, bussing in hundreds of employees to take part in the “company picnic.” Spokesman Morgan Crinklaw told the San Francisco Chronicle that Chevron “plans to offer the same opportunity to employees to participate in events taking place near our Farmington, N.M., and Anchorage, Alaska, offices.”

The oil industry is paying its employees to go to these events, claiming that they are “grassroots,” when nothing could be further from the truth. If you live in one of the cities below where these ‘Energy Citizen’ rallies are taking place in the next few weeks, show up with your video cameras and ask questions, like: “Do you know why you’re here today?” Or “Are you here because your boss made you come?” If media are at the event, be sure to urge them to report these events as fake astroturf events organized by oil companies.

Here are the upcoming company picnics:

8/21 (11:30 AM). Lima, OH Veterans’ Memorial and Civic Center.

8/21 (11:30 AM) Farmington, NM. Convention Center at McGee Park

8/22 (11:30 AM). Atlanta, GA. Marriott Century Center.

8/25 (11.30 AM) Nashville, TN. Wild Horse Saloon.

8/25 (11:00 AM). Elkhart, IN. RV Hall of Fame.

8/25 (TBD) Greeley, CO. Island Grove Regional Park, Exhibit Hall

8/27 (11:30 AM). St. Louis, MO Hilton at the Ballpark.

8/27 (5.:00 PM) Tampa FL, Tampa Convention Center

8/27 (TBD). Bismarck, ND National Center of Energy Excellence at Bismarck State College, 4th Floor

8/31 (TBD). Anchorage, AK Anchorage Convention Center

8/31 (5:00 PM). Greenville, SC. Carolina First Center.

9/1 Springfield IL Time TBD Venue TBD

9/3 (Time TBD) Detroit MI Burton Manor Banquet and Conference Center.

9/3 (4:30 PM). Philadelphia, PA. Venue TBD.

9/3 Richmond, VA. TBD.

9/5 (2:30 PM). Lincoln, NE. Embassy Suites Lincoln.

9/7 (1:15 3 2:15 PM). Huron, SD. Freedom Stage, South Dakota State Fair

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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