American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015 - 161

ConventionCoverage: Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association

OERB Readies Next Education Effort
LAS COLINAS, TX.-From September
2014 to May 2015, Oklahoma's media
outlets posted 1,748 articles and newscasts
related to the oil and gas industry other
than company financial performances or
human resource activities; 86 percent
were negative. Dave Thomas, vice president of the advertising agency Brothers
& Company, told the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association's annual
meeting that the industry had its response
mechanism in hand: the Oklahoma Energy
Resources Board.
"During those eight months, we were
hearing about price cuts, layoffs, potential
layoffs, the fear of layoffs, the fear of
budget shortfalls, capital expenditure cuts,
the fear of capital expenditure cuts, tank
car derailments, climate change, moratoria,
and then, naturally, earthquakes," Thomas
said. "Rarely, in a compressed amount
of time, have we seen such a highly concentrated dose of news about one industry.
OERB has embraced a strategy designed
to take that head-on."
In one other OIPA presentation, Jason
Ren, director of the Bioenergy and Bioscience Recovery Laboratory in Environmental Engineering at the University
of Colorado, offered a new solution for
wastewater disposal.
Thomas said OERB was the right vehicle to respond to this public attention
because its mission since its 1993 creation
had been education, not advocacy. It is a
trustworthy brand that has gained an enormous amount of respect, especially on
environmental issues, he praised, adding
that a large part of that deference came
from OERB's emphasis on transparency.
"What OERB has done over the past 20
years is unique to any operation or organization in the country," he declared.
Brothers & Company is helping OERB
design its upcoming environmental stewardship platform, Thomas reported. One
major problem to overcome is highly
fragmented environmental conditions, he
pointed out, saying wells reacted differently, depending on local conditions and
operator actions.
OERB will release a messaging platform focused on four areas, he said:
water, air, land and worker, and public
safety. Under the land category is earthquakes. Thomas said OERB was not talking specifically about seismicity; its message will embrace all actions taken by

the oil and gas industry related to protecting the environment.

New Campaign
OERB will launch its environmental
stewardship campaign in August, guided
by research and lessons learned from
several focus groups, Thomas said.
"This is a nine-inning game and we
have not even thrown the first pitch," he
said. "To gain credibility will take frequency. We are building this for the long
term. We have to tap into new technologies
and add them to the arsenal. It is cyclical.
We are going to wake up one day and see
that the rig count is back up and we are
hiring again, or we might see some other
external factor. Just as OERB has always
done, it will keep a consistent message."
The campaign must be about the future,
not the past, Thomas emphasized, and it
must discuss how the oil and gas industry
is driven by technology. He said OERB
was able to use its contacts throughout
Oklahoma to attract industry experts, environmental consultants from the state
and private sector, regulators, and university
personnel to help shape the message.
One of the campaign's initial steps is
developing two fact sheets covering issues
in each of the four categories, Thomas
reported. One of the water fact sheets focuses on water use and recycling, while

another talks about protecting water resources, he described. All are available
on the OERB.com/stewardship website.
The program targets Americans born
between 1980 and 2000, Thomas said.
"Millennials are starting to approach their
mid-30s. They are buying homes and cars,
having families, and voting," he said.
He said OERB contracted with a consultant to learn the best strategy for shaping
its energy message to millennials. Focus
groups asked how millennials thought
about the oil and gas industry, what they
wanted to hear from it, and how the industry could best communicate.
Chief concerns include what the industry is doing to protect the environment,
what other energy sources-including renewables-are under development, and
what careers are available to millennial
workers, Thomas imparted. The best communication path cannot include traditional
routes such as print media, he advised,
stating millennials prefer to do their own
research, and tend to rely more on Internet
networks for information. When millennials undertake research, he said industry
transparency on issues was a major factor
in gaining their trust.
Both Matter
OERB's overarching premise for its
campaign is that if people care about en-

Participating in a discussion on the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board's response to
seismicity at the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association's annual meeting are,
from left, Dave Thomas, vice president of the advertising agency Brothers & Company;,
Paul Brothers from the firm, who introduced Thomas; and Jason Garner, vice president of
Crawley Petroleum Corp., who served as the session moderator.

JULY 2015 161

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