First off appoint a committee. That's the first way to destroy mass public opposition. Put a few popular figureheads on the committee and immediately public interest will wane as they believe that those figureheads will do all the heavy lifting. Schedule the public meetings during business hours. Yes this is for the convenience of the polluter, government personnel etc. and will weed out the hourly, wage paid riff raff who actually pay the vast majority of councillors and Min. of Environment's salaries. I should have picked up on this in 2000 when Pat McLean and Susan Bryant refused evening CPAC meetings forcing me to take paid time off work to attend.
Make certain right from the start that the Chair is one of yours. It can be obvious or not but later key decisions will be made by the Chair, usually unilaterally and quietly, that will make a huge difference. Certainly go through the motions such as following Robert's Rules at the meetings. That will give the minority, honest and straightforward members confidence that the committee is for real. Of course it isn't but you don't want the honest citizens dropping off the committee prematurely.
Make certain that even your friends and fellow travellors on the committee speak glowingly about the environment, the beauty of nature and the responsibility of everyone to be going in the same direction despite you and your supporters utter contempt for anything other than profits and the bottom line. Keep your biases and right wing, pro business at all costs attitudes to yourselves until finally the committee totally reflects your attitudes. This easily could take years but patience and time are on your side. Remember for most people just talking about a problem and pretending to solve it is absolutely huge. They believe that the very act of a public meeting is a validation of their legitimate environmental concerns. The polluter however knows that talk is cheap, cleanup is not.
Sometimes push may come to shove. When necessary have your supporters wave a red herring in front of a recalcitrant member so as to provoke a reaction. Then have the majority jump on this member and question his loyalty to the group and to their fellow members. Provoke him if necessary with bull**it and weak logic so that he either quits the committee or they decide to remove him for obstructing the flavour of the day issue (eg. such as Ammonia Treatment). Yes it's obvious later and petty but it also begins to cement the wrong idea that the committee must always agree and be unanimous in their decisions. It also scares those who have invested much time and effort and feel that they are a part of the group and hence of the eventual solution.
There is a lot of psychology and manipulation involved in all of this. However when all the liars and biased pro polluters know the game and the other early members do not, it can and will work. The key for the polluters is also to have made private deals with all the other "stakeholders" before the committee starts. Having both local government on side via legal bribes if necessary as well as the provincial Min. of Environment pretty much guarantees long term success no matter how disgusting the private deals are. It is a myth that our authorities only work on behalf of the public interest. They are always looking out for Number One not for you and I.
Thirty-three years of bogus public consultation here in Elmira and of course nothing promised has been accomplished. That requires money, resources and will. The first two are available but the last never has been by all our guilty parties.
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