Case Study
Countering a Threat to Natural Gas Infrastructure
The challenge:
A major natural gas provider faced a proposed state policy that would cut off future investment in natural gas infrastructure. Voters were initially drawn to the idea, but didn’t realize the implications it would have for costs and reliability.
The company needed to assess the real scope of the threat, understand what would actually shift opinion, and develop a counter-narrative and advocacy strategy it could take into a coordinated statewide campaign.
Our approach:
- A statewide survey among voters and opinion elites to measure attitudes toward various different energy sources, costs, and reliability concerns.
- Testing of competing narratives to identify which arguments most effectively shift opinion and build support for ongoing investment in natural gas infrastructure.
The result:
- Confirmed the scale of the challenge, with voters initially tempted by the idea of a sharp pivot from natural gas
- Identified a winning counter-narrative that demonstrated how eliminating natural gas would drive up rates and dramatically undermine reliability for consumers
- Validated an “all-of-the-above” alternative to the proposed policy, demonstrating strong support for a diversified energy strategy centered on lowering costs. This now guides a coordinated statewide advocacy effort.
