American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2014 - 149

ConventionSection: Virginia Oil & Gas Association
incentive bills.
Among them, Virginia Governor Terry
McAuliffe already has signed SB 519
into law, which will offer incentives for
developing natural gas infrastructure. According to VOGA, the law is designed to
encourage utilities to build pipelines and
other infrastructure to bring natural gas
into the commonwealth, preferably under
long-term arrangements that may reduce
gas supply costs and reduce price volatility.
Several pipeline companies are looking
to expand across the state, Kozera remarks,
because it is home to numerous natural
gas power plants, with more in the works.
"Much of that infrastructure is meant for
power generation and other things, such
as fuel sources," he continues.
Kozera also reports that the Commonwealth of Virginia is in the process of replacing its older cars with natural gas vehicles. When a fleet vehicle needs to be
replaced, Virginia officials must buy an
NGV unless there are peculiar circumstances, which have to be reported and
approved before the requirement can be
bypassed.
"If a state agency is replacing a vehicle,
the expectation is that the new vehicle
will run on natural gas," he says. "That's
a big difference for the commonwealth;
Virginia is leading the way in that respect.
The whole idea of that incentive is run
the state fleet on natural gas, then we can
have some infrastructure, and the infrastructure will drive other fleets and perhaps
even individuals."
According to Kozera, several NGV
conference attendees said they were in
the process of building more natural gas
fueling infrastructure throughout Virginia.
Multiple companies say they are interested
in building stations along the I-81 to I-95
corridor, so NGVs will have easy access
to fuel along all the major interstates.
"We have been very supportive of
those initiatives, and will continue to be,"
he emphasizes.
According to Kozera, one anti-industry
bill was introduced after it became known
a Texas-based production company was
set to explore several hundred acres in
eastern Virginia's Taylorsville Basin. The
company notified locals that it intended
to fracture the wells, he recounts.
"The poor guys did not understand
the problem because they were from
Texas," Kozera describes. "I told them,
'No one in eastern Virginia has seen a
drilling rig. They have no idea how the

VOGA Annual Meeting
Virginia Beach, Va.
Wednesday, June 25
6 p.m. Welcome Reception, Hilton Garden
Inn Oceanfront

Thursday, June 26
8 a.m. Golf Outing
11 a.m. Fishing Charter
6 p.m. VOGA Barbecue and Auction,
Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront

Friday, June 27
8 a.m.-Noon VOGA Technical Program
Presentations, Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront
8-8:30 a.m."Update of Virginia's Oil and
Gas Development for 2013," Rick
Cooper, Director, Division of Oil and
Gas, Virginia Department of Mines,
Minerals and Energy
8:30-9 a.m. "Water Rights and Regulation
in Appalachia," Armando F. Benincasa,
Member, Steptoe & Johnson LLC
9 a.m. Family Program
9-9:30 a.m. "Open Hole Completion Methods," Ryan Henderson, Technical Sales
Director, Peak Completions
9:30-9:45 a.m. Break
9:45-10:15 a.m. "The I-81 CNG Corridor
and Beyond," David Mrowzinski, Program Manager, IGS Energy
10:15-10:45 a.m. "Geosteering in the
Central Appalachian Basin: Bringing
New Technology to an Old Play," Boyd
Gray, Chief Executive Officer, Rubicon
Geological Consulting, LLC
10:45-11:15 a.m. "An Update on Federal
Laws and Regulations Affecting the
Oil and Gas Industry," Edith Allison,
Director, Energy and Geoscience Policy
Office, American Association of Petroleum Geologists
11:15-11:45 a.m. "Advocacy: The Power
of Association," Maribeth Anderson,
Government Relations-West Virginia,
Chesapeake Energy
6 p.m. Annual Banquet

process works.' We have not had the resources to reach out to that area, so when
the company started talking about horizontal drilling and fracturing in eastern
Virginia, no one took it well, seemingly."
The public response prompted lawmakers to propose a bill to ban horizontal
drilling and hydraulic fracturing in eastern
Virginia, Kozera says. VOGA opposed
it, he comments, because it could hurt
certain companies and create a bad prece-

dent.
"The bill died in committee, so we
did not have to deal with it (on the floor),"
he clarifies. "But, things like that can
come up at the next session."
Local Outreach
Kozera states that anti-industry groups
throughout the country are proposing
local initiatives to restrict or ban oil and
gas operations, specifically hydraulic
fracturing. He says he believes that the
groups target localities because success
has proven elusive at the federal and state
levels.
"That is always dangerous because
local officials tend to be less technical
and usually don't understand the industry,"
he notes. "I went to several public meetings
where I had to tell local authorities that
their initiatives violated federal laws. And
that is our biggest concern because it
takes a lot of people-power to fight these;
there are so few of us (at VOGA) and so
many cities and counties."
Kozera and Stockner say VOGA is
continuing its outreach efforts through a
social media push, natural gas facts website, school presentations, and by meeting
with various civic groups. Several communities, especially in eastern and northern
Virginia, still fear the unknown of oil
and gas production, Stockner describes.
The Taylorsville Basin, near Fredericksburg, Va., is relatively new to production, and so, Stockner says, VOGA
is planning to sponsor a FrackNation
screening in that area. As the basin draws
increasing amounts of industry attention,
it is critical that residents understand
the industry's goals and methods, she
says.
Fortunately, she assesses, natural gas
seems to garner bipartisan support as a
source of affordable, clean energy. Also,
many state lawmakers seem to understand
the industry's longstanding benefits for
Virginia, she reports. According to Stockner, the industry impacts more 141,000
Virginians, and it contributes approximately $12.5 billion, or 3 percent, to the
commonwealth's gross domestic product.
"Virginia ranks 15th in the United
States for natural gas production," she
confirms. "It's easy to tell people the
positives about our industry. It is harder,
though, to combat the supposed negatives
that people hear and believe because of
misinformation."
"I have been at public meetings where
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2014

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