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A decade advocating
for the industry

When North Dakota energy needed a voice, we organized the people who live it.

Since the burgeoning days of shale, our team has run grassroots advocacy for two of the industry’s most trusted names: Bakken Backers, a program of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, and Energy Citizens, supported by the American Petroleum Institute. Industry leaders don’t hand over their public voice lightly. They handed it to us.

Bison in the North Dakota badlands, in black and white
2012ADVOCATING FOR THE INDUSTRY SINCE
~80%VOTED NO ON MEASURE 5 IN 2014
10,000+BAKKEN BACKERS PETITION ACTIONS
2.9M+PEOPLE REACHED ONLINE

THE TRUST

Two industry programs. One team they trusted with their voice.

Advocacy is the most sensitive work an industry group can outsource. Every letter, petition and public event carries its name. For more than a decade, BRND Energy’s parent company, Laventure Corp., led by Rob Lindberg, has done this work for the industry’s state and national voices.

NORTH DAKOTA PETROLEUM COUNCIL

Bakken Backers

Ongoing grassroots program · 2012 onward

Bakken Backers turns everyday North Dakotans who benefit from oil and gas into a visible, organized voice. We recruited and mobilized supporters, placed letters, ran petition campaigns and reported results every month.

Letters to the editorPetitionsSpeakingSocial media
AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE

Energy Citizens

Statewide campaign · Sept.–Nov. 2014

Energy Citizens hired us to run the grassroots effort, as part of a broad coalition, against Measure 5, a constitutional amendment that would have locked a share of oil tax revenue into a conservation fund. We had seven weeks.

Field officesDoor knockingYard signsLetters to the editor

THE DECADE

SHOWING UP WHEN IT MATTERED

Campaigns we ran and the policy fights we pressed, from our reports to clients.

  1. 2012 Advocacy begins We start organizing North Dakotans who benefit from the energy industry.
  2. 2014 Growing the base 500+ contacts, student chapters at NDSU and UND, and a new social presence that reached nearly 30,000 people in a week when the New York Times came calling.
  3. 2014 Energy Citizens: Measure 5 A statewide grassroots campaign built in seven weeks, with Bakken Backers as a partner. The measure fails with nearly 80% voting no.
  4. 2015 North Dakota Surge bill Backed the 2015 Surge bill, the Legislature’s funding package for oil-impacted communities in western North Dakota.
  5. 2015 Oil tax reform Legislation reduced the oil extraction tax rate to 5% (combining with the 5% gross production tax for a 10% total rate) and adjusted price-trigger mechanisms, which were revised further in later years.
  6. 2015 Flaring rules & crew camps 258 supporters write state regulators about flaring targets. 313 submissions go to Williston City Commissioners on crew camps.
  7. 2015 Crude oil exports Pressed North Dakota’s congressional delegation to lift the U.S. crude oil export ban, which ended December 18, 2015.
  8. 2016 Pipelines & mineral rights Letters supporting Dakota Access, plus a purpose-built website and call-in system for a mineral rights issue.
  9. 2017 Repeal the BLM rule 813 messages to a U.S. Senator in a matter of weeks, 63% from North Dakotans.
  10. 2019 Pore space · SB 2344 Addressed ownership and use of subsurface pore space, recognizing hydraulic fracturing and CO₂ injection for enhanced oil recovery and shielding operators from trespass and nuisance claims for underground migration. Signed April 2019.
  11. 2019 Operation Prairie Dog · HB 1066 Restructured the gross production tax formula to create a major infrastructure fund for cities, counties and townships in non-oil-producing counties, plus airports.

BAKKEN BACKERS · NORTH DAKOTA PETROLEUM COUNCIL

TURNING SUPPORTERS INTO A VOICE

Thousands of North Dakotans owe their jobs, businesses and royalties to oil and gas. Few had ever written a regulator or a newspaper. We gave them the reason, the words and a one-click way to be heard.

  • 01 Letters & columns We recruited business owners, landowners, students and workers to write letters and op-eds in local papers, from the Williston Herald to the Fargo Forum.
  • 02 One-click petitions backthebakken.org let supporters send prewritten or personal messages to regulators and lawmakers. Companies got custom pages so their employees could take part.
  • 03 Phone, text & email Email blasts, personal texts and calls turned a list of supporters into action within days of a hearing or vote.
  • 04 Issue microsites When mineral owners needed a voice, we built a dedicated website and call-in system to reach state decision-makers.
  • 05 Speaking & tours Chamber panels, Rotary clubs, student groups and economic development tours that carried the industry’s story beyond the oil patch.
  • 06 Social media An always-on Facebook presence that reached hundreds of thousands of people when pipeline and energy debates peaked.

RESULTS

MOBILIZED ON DEMAND

When a rule, permit or vote was on the line, Bakken Backers delivered real people with real addresses, fast.

2.9M+people reached online
~11,000Facebook page likes
5,000+email subscribers ready to act
Hundredsletters to the editor, columns, testimony and media appearances
80+events, conferences and speaking engagements

ENERGY CITIZENS · API

Seven weeks to build a statewide ground game.

In September 2014, Energy Citizens asked us to run its grassroots effort against Measure 5. We opened an office in Fargo, put staff in Grand Forks, Bismarck, Dickinson, Jamestown and Williston, and recruited volunteers in Minot, Watford City, Killdeer and Devils Lake. Every week we reported doors, letters, signs and events against the plan.

3,000+yard signs distributed
4,354+doors knocked and lit-dropped
167letters submitted to 8 newspapers
10communities with staff or volunteers
DOORS PER WEEK 4,354 logged in weekly reports
540
Wk 2
1,167
Wk 3
1,109
Wk 4
527
Wk 5
1,011
Wk 6
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SUBMITTED 167 submissions across 8 newspapers
2
Wk 2
36
Wk 3
42
Wk 4
42
Wk 5
45
Wk 6
A Vote No on 5 yard sign on a North Dakota lawn in fall Volunteers waving Vote No on 5 signs at a Grand Forks intersection A volunteer holds a Vote No on 5 sign on a Grand Forks street corner
NOVEMBER 4, 2014 · MEASURE 5 ~80% NO The measure failed in a landslide.
No · 79.2%Yes · 20.8%
Unofficial results, 401 of 427 precincts reporting. The Dickinson Press ↗

WHAT A DECADE TAUGHT US

WHAT WE BRING TO YOUR COMPANY

The same instincts that moved regulators and voters help oilfield companies handle a tough headline, a permit fight or a skeptical community.

  1. 01 Trust is built before you need it Supporters answered within days because the relationships were already in place. That only happens with a steady presence year after year.
  2. 02 The best messengers live here Landowners, small business owners, workers and students carry more weight with lawmakers and neighbors than any industry spokesperson.
  3. 03 Make it easy to act Prewritten messages, company-specific pages and a single link turned support into submissions.
  4. 04 Report everything Monthly reports tracked every letter, contact, event and action, so the client always knew what their investment produced.

ABOUT THIS DATA

Figures come from the monthly and annual Bakken Backers reports and proposals (2014–2018) and the weekly and final Energy Citizens reports (2014) we delivered to our clients. Lifetime totals are conservative minimums built from the reports on file. Door counts include only doors logged in weekly reports. Names of individual supporters are kept private.

RELATED SERVICES

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