American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015 - 121

representatives on key federal issues as
well, Longanecker says. As part of that
effort, he says, TIPRO will continue to
meet with key federal policymakers to
inform them about the industry's needs.
"We take a group to Washington every
year to meet with congressional leaders,"
Longanecker notes. "Last year, we also
met with officials at the Department of
the Interior, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, the
Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, which allowed
us to talk about regulatory issues impacting
our membership."
TIPRO supports efforts to eliminate
the ban on crude oil exports, which is the
goal of HR 5814 by Representative Joe
Barton, R-Tx., he says. The proposal
seeks to repeal provisions in Section 103
of the Energy Policy and Conservation
Act, a TIPRO summary describes. "The
export ban is pretty important, and we
are supporting a variety of ways to lift
it," Longanecker says. "That is more important now than ever."
The guidelines published by the U.S.
Commerce Department on Dec. 30 to
clarify what companies must do to export
condensate without violating export law
or requiring specific federal approval is
a first step, he assesses, but more needs

to be done.
Welder says he and other TIPRO members generally favor open markets. "Given
the industry's ability to find an abundance
of hydrocarbons, it's time to lift the ban
that was put in place decades ago," Welder
suggests. "It was an act of protectionism
that perhaps made sense in an earlier era,
but it did not contemplate today's technology."
Meanwhile, Skinner notes, moves by
the USFWS to list certain species under
the Endangered Species Act-including the
lesser prairie chicken, which has habitat
in the Lone Star State-have heightened
the importance of that law among industry
groups. Nevertheless, she allows, ESA reform still appears to be a long shot.
Tax Reform
Although talk of overhauling the federal
tax code continues to circulate on Capitol
Hill, there may be little appetite in Washington for tax reform that could hit independent producers, such as changing the
nature of deductions for intangible drilling
costs or the percentage depletion allowance, Longanecker assesses. "Somebody inevitably wants to push that issue,
but given the changes in the Senate and
the House, I don't believe anything will

advance," he reasons.
Welder predicts that the GOP-controlled
Congress will be sensitive to reform proposals' effect on oil and gas companies,
manufacturers and other businesses. "We
would not be talking about lifting the export ban if we did not have independent
oil and gas producers risking their capital
to find new sources of hydrocarbons," he
holds. "The tax structure, including percentage depletion, has been critical in allowing that to happen. People do not realize how much production comes from
marginal wells that produce no more than
four or five barrels a day. It is critical to
keep those spare barrels. If we didn't
have them, we wouldn't be talking about
$45-$50 oil now. We need every barrel
we can get."
The nation would be better served if
Washington took a cue from the Lone
Star State, Welder insists. "We believe
that Texas has a robust and transparent
regulatory and environmental protection
system that is a model not only for the
rest of the country, but for the world," he
concludes. "When it comes to property
rights, mineral rights, regulatory issues,
and environmental protection matters, we
would be in a better spot if the rest of the
world was more like Texas."
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015

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