ABSTRACT
In 2014, TransCanada Corporation pushed for the construction of different pipeline projects, including Keystone XL in the United States and Energy East in Eastern Canada. In November 2014, five strategy documents detailing the communication campaign organized by the public relations firm Edelman to help TransCanada gain social support (and political approval) for Energy East were leaked (Edelman 2014). The documents call for a budget to recruit 35,000 “activists” supporting the project through “grassroots” advocacy by using social media, and especially by paying numerous bloggers and key opinion leaders to defend the interests of TransCanada Corp. The documents explain how to transform public opinion and the economic preferences of the population by creating the illusion that a mass-movement in favor of the pipeline existed. One of the five leaked documents even elucidates that it is necessary to take some lessons from the Keystone XL, where the industry mobilized a million activists and generated more than 500,000 proKeystone comments during the public comment period. As the leaked documents explain:
It’s not just associations or advocacy groups building these programs in support of the industry. Companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and Halliburton (and many more) have all made key investments in
building permanent advocacy assets and programs to support their lobbying, outreach and policy efforts.
