American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 132

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arena, but rather in the market arena," he
reasons. "That is something that, like our
fellow producers across the country, we
have very little impact on. But we have
to be vigilant of the regulatory environment. By staying alert and involved on
such matters, when we see a rebound in
the market price and activity, we haven't
let a lot of regulatory and public policy
issues get stacked against us that we then
would have to battle through.
"That is what AIPRO is going to do
while we wait patiently for the market to
rebound," he says. "We will be vigilant
and involved in those public policy arenas,
and continue to lead public outreach
about the importance of oil and natural
gas as an energy source."
Safety, Education Outreach
Robbins reports that in June, AIPRO's
public outreach program, Arkansas Energy
Rocks!, hosted its second annual energy
education workshop for 20 Arkansas elementary and secondary educators.
"This program would not be possible
without the Arkansas Petroleum
Council/API," Robbins says, commenting
that the collaboration with API provides
the program with industrywide support
and resources that AIPRO could not supply
alone.
Paige Miller, the program's director,
led the workshop, which she says was very
successful. So many teachers were interested
in attending that some had to be waitlisted. Miller says AIPRO hopes to add another workshop in the future to better meet
demand, although the program may have
to wait until market conditions improve
and there is more money to budget.
There is no shortage of teachers and
educators who want to learn more about
the oil and gas industry, Miller emphasizes,
saying they want to know about the jobs
and resources it has available, and why it
is important.
Miller says she also travels across the
state making presentations at schools and
civic groups, when requested. During
spring 2015, she visited more than 20
schools, teaching students the science of
oil and natural gas production.
"Our goal is to inform them about the
industry properly before they start to believe any misrepresentations they may
see or hear in the media," Miller remarks.
"At this point, I still have to correct older
textbooks that state we will run out of
fossil fuels in the near future."
Robbins emphasizes the importance
of the teacher workshops and other community and civic presentations because
they help to inform communities and individuals of the truth about industry operations, and help to clarify whatever

132 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

misinformation people have heard or any
concerns they may have.
"We hope these teachers will carry
that message back to their students-the
future decision-makers," he says. "They
don't have to love us. We just want them
to have a better understanding of who
we are and what we do, because we understand there is a strong anti-fossil-fuels
message being taught in our nation's
classrooms."
Earlier this year, Robbins says, AIPRO
was able to authorize its new Arkansas
Energy Education Foundation as a
501(c)(3) charity, although he clarifies
that the association still is figuring ways
how to best use this newly-created foundation.
Both Robbins and Michele Easter,
AIPRO's director of events and communications, comment that they hope to
make safety education a priority for association members. Robbins marks this
as "an internal education effort."
One avenue for safety education, Easter
notes, is the Arkansas Service, Transmission, Exploration & Production Safety
(STEPS) Network, which offers classes
on a near monthly basis. Easter says that
even though some companies are leaving
the state because of the low market prices,
the Arkansas STEPS meetings are still
very well attended.
"We have been very pleasantly surprised to see new people attending,"
Easter states. "It's been slightly lower in
the summer because so many are on vacation, and that is expected. But we still
have been averaging 40 in each class,
versus 60-80 that we have in the spring
and fall.
"And, we have been hosting people
who used to go to meetings in other states,"
she continues. "They said those groups
were not meeting regularly anymore, so
we have made it a priority to have regular,
timely and topical meetings."
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation traditionally is the STEPS program's most
requested class, Easter says, because it is
relatively inexpensive compared with
other life-saving courses. Another lookedfor class is fall protection certification
training, because it is the second-most
likely way for workers to get injured or
be killed on the job, she goes on, adding
that the leading cause of work-related
injuries is transportation.
Easter stresses that members should
attend the "Safety, Beyond Compliance"
panel at AIPRO's annual meeting because
it will review several of the most dangerous
job-site issues and recommend best practices that go beyond simply complying
with safety standards. "So much of what
we do at AIPRO is challenging the culture
American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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