Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumAt National Natural Gas Conference, PR Exec Compares Climate Activists To Hitler
At an end-of-day keynote at the North American Gas Foruman annual confab for fossil fuel executives, sponsored by a whos who of fossil fuel companies, including Shell, BP, Tellurian and Baker Hugheskeynote speaker and Davies Public Affairs CEO John Davies made a curious comparison. The presentation (A Defining Moment for Natural Gas: What Are We Going to Do About It?) was mainly about building public support for methane gas. Were being attacked on a daily basis, he began, pacing around the stage in a grey suit.
You might reasonably expect Adolf Hitler would not come up in such a presentation. You would be wrong. If gas producers dont counter negative messaging about fossil fuels, Davies warned, they will be no better than Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who infamously pursued the so-called appeasement policy towards the Nazi regime that would go on to murder approximately 6 million Jews, hundreds of thousands of disabled people, Roma, and others, and millions of Soviet, Polish, and Serbian civilians.
As the slide behind him askedcomplete with a prominent picture of Chamberlain shaking hands with Hitler, swastika prominently displayedAre we appeasing those who call to ban us? We dont talk about how theyre wrong. We dont talk about why, Davies said, referring to critics of the gas industry. The craziest thing is we just dont talk at all. We just dont talk about it. We dont reach out. We dont do anything. Davies added that the very people that want to ban natural gas, that want to end the industry are going to get mad at us if we talk about the positive attributes. He suggested that rather than fighting back, the industry tell our positive story, which is so well accepted. So we dont become Neville Chamberlain. That is not a great place to be. (A request for comment on the Hitler comparison, directed to Daviess firm, went unanswered.)
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After comparing those opposed to fossil fuel development to historys most infamous genocidaire, Davies went on to share polling results of public perceptions of fossil fuels and tell an extended anecdote about latrines falling out of use in the developing world, reaching a vague conclusion about the need to find solutions. A few minutes later his computer abruptly shut down and the screen went black. After a back-and-forth with event staff Davies asked the crowd whether anyone had a good joke while the computer started back up. No one did. Once the presentation was back up he proceeded, ending on an inspirational note: This is your moment to be bold.
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https://newrepublic.com/article/168300/gas-industry-pr-compares-fossil-fuel-opponents-hitler