Gasland Part II Page #6

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recording several brainstorming

and tactic-sharing conversations.

[Man on tape]

FOX, VOICE-OVER:

Psychological operations are employed in a war zone

to destabilize a population

from insurgency against an invading army.

PSYOPS were used

by the American military in Vietnam, in Iraq.

And here the gas industry was,

employing former PSYOPS experts

to actually write local laws

and develop techniques to be used against landowners

fighting the gas industry

in Texas and in Pennsylvania.

And Chesapeake had its own plan,

characterizing people fighting

the gas industry as insurgents.

MICHAEL D. KEHS, VOICE-OVER:

Chesapeake has got nearly 100 people

whose sole jobs are to deal

with community relations.

We have got people

going out and speaking in the community every night.

Basically, my entire career

has been dealing with audiences at chemical risk.

In almost every instance

where I've gone up against

a strong activist insurgency,

it does not matter

what the facts are

because the facts stand in

the way of your ability to raise funds.

FOX, VOICE-OVER:
The gas

industry was trading notes on their war effort.

FOX, VOICE-OVER:

Counterinsurgency,

strategies for managing outrage.

destabilization of communities.

These are terms of war,

but like the PowerPoint says,

you can't dramatically

change global energy

without ruffling some feathers.

It didn't seem to matter that

the Defense Department had ruled

that it was illegal

for the military to use PSYOPS techniques against Americans.

And, of course,

the next logical step

would be to start looking

for some terrorists.

Tom Ridge, former governor

of Pennsylvania

and the former and first

head of the Department of Homeland Security,

appointed right after

9/11, signs on to be the Chief Spokesman

for the Marcellus Shale

Coalition, an industry group

that fights environmental

regulation of gas drilling.

The very next month,

the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security

begins issuing briefs that lists

anti-fracking protest groups

as "possible eco-terrorists."

The bulletin said

that environmental extremism

trending towards eco-terrorism

and criminality

was a rising threat to

the security of Pennsylvania.

Virginia Cody, a retired

Air Force officer living near Dimock,

was forwarded

the August 30th bulletin.

She then posted it

on a gas drilling listserv.

When she did that,

unbelievably,

Pennsylvania Homeland Security

Chief James Powers wrote her

an email, assuming that she was

a pro-gas-drilling stakeholder,

actually indicated that

the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security

had communication

with pro-drilling groups like the Marcellus Shale Coalition.

PA Homeland Security

was showing up at protests,

spying on gas drilling

activists,

but they weren't only

sending the information to law enforcement;

they were sending it

to the gas industry.

Lisa Baker, my state senator,

a Republican,

held hearings

into the misconduct.

SENATOR BAKER:
Raise

your right hand for me. We're going to swear in.

For the first time

in my life, I do not feel secure in my home.

I worry that what I say

on the phone is being recorded.

I wonder if my emails

are still being monitored.

Mr. Powers, I have not

had one person come forward

and say they believe

these bulletins were vital.

The information

that's sought by

the local municipalities

was situation awareness.

Situational awareness.

It was just

situational awareness.

It was just

about situational awareness.

FEMALE SENATOR:

None of it really makes any sense to me at all,

that we would go monitor

private citizens and private groups

and they're not

a threat to us, is what you were just saying.

"It's just for

awareness." It makes absolutely no sense.

And it does make me

think, "Where are we living?"

FOX, VOICE-OVER:

As it turned out, the state of Pennsylvania had a contract

with a group called

the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response.

A quick web search

turned up their website,

which featured pictures

of a scary owl,

an Israeli SWAT Team member,

and a strange blue hand

playing chess.

MALE SENATOR:

So what is your payroll?

What is your

employee payroll?

Is it 3?

Is it a hundred?

What is it?

I'm just curious.

It's more than 3 and it's

less than a hundred.

You know, you're

very creepy.

No, no.

You're very scary.

[Laughter]

No, I'm trying to be honest with you.

I don't know

if you're bi-polar or you have issues.

I mean, you're a very

scary individual. BAKER: Senator Ferlo,

and this is not for us--

OK, but let me ask a specific question.

to make comments about

individuals personally.

I have 12 staff

people. I'm just asking a question.

How many employees

do you have?

We have

about 15 employees...

and that doesn't include

the 70-some additional

employees that--

Operatives, or whatever

you call them, or--

People who, uh...

Because this is just

too unbelievable,

too surreal,

this hearing.

FOX, VOICE-OVER:

After the hearings, James Powers resigned,

but there were

no indictments, no charges,

no real investigation of the

recipients of these Pennsylvania intelligence bulletins,

including Tom Ridge's

Marcellus Shale Coalition.

The trust barrier

had been broken.

And, that moment on,

none of us knew

if our names appeared on lists

of possible terrorists

somewhere in a strange

blue filing cabinet,

and two years of hard-fought

progress in Pennsylvania was about to unravel.

FOX-VOICE-OVER:

When the water line in Dimock was announced,

it had a ripple effect

across the state.

Towns and municipalities drafted

ordinances to ban drilling

outright at the local level,

including the entire city of Pittsburgh.

850,000 people,

and I'm one of them,

drink water out of

the Monongahela River.

When it tastes funny,

I get nervous,

and it tastes funny.

Really, this is about

a civil rights issue.

This is about

our inalienable rights.

I said, "Can you regulate

my inalienable rights

"that are embodied in

the Pennsylvania Constitution

"to clean air, clean water,

and the preservation

"of the natural environment

for generations,

"for now, and for

generations to come?

Can you regulate

those rights away?" "No."

FOX, VOICE-OVER:

But an election was underway, and the leading candidate,

Tom Corbett, had accepted

$1.6 million in campaign contributions

from the gas industry and was

running on a drilling platform.

With the election just weeks

away, the gas companies went all-in in Dimock,

attacking the water line

and the families.

Full-page ads

in local newspapers,

a YouTube video campaign

declaring Dimock water safe...

I'd like to show you

how dangerous this Dimock water is.

FOX, VOICE-OVER:
Threats to

pull out jobs in rural areas.

They even riled up a start-up

group called Enough Already,

saying that the water line

was going to come from taxpayer money.

You want to fire up a crowd?

Tell them they're going to pay higher taxes.

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