American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 139

ESA classification appears likely. "The
government is positioning itself to defend
the listing decision in litigation," Sgamma
reasoned.
She went on to mention other issues
on which the Alliance was working, including leasing access to national grassland
areas, unissued leases in New Mexico,
consolidation of BLM district offices in
New Mexico and Arizona, a proposed
rate hike for public mineral royalties,
and a habitat mitigation exchange in Colorado's White River Forest.
Sgamma noted that the Alliance's annual public opinion poll found a majority
of likely voters said states should play a
greater role in energy development on
public lands, and also supported increased
state authority in wildlife decisions. "This
helps us advocate against the federal
overreach," she said.
She also reported that the Alliance
had introduced a blog called "Source
Rock."
"Our blog gives us a great platform to
define issues, and we are finding the
press is referring to it in news articles,"
Sgamma observed.

Lifting The Export Ban
Oil and gas companies' ability to successfully tap shale formations has moved
North American energy supplies from
scarcity to abundance, assessed Jack
Stark, president and chief operating officer
at Continental Resources Inc.
"U.S. oil production is on a trajectory
to reach 20 million barrels a day by 2025,
a point at which we will be energy independent based on today's consumption,"
Stark said. "By early 2015, U.S. net crude
oil imports had been cut by more than
half, to about one quarter of our demand."
If the reserve estimates for the three
leading U.S. producing regions-the Eagle
Ford, Permian Basin and the Bakken-
were combined into a single nation, it
might be called "Cowboyistan," Stark
mused, and it would rank third globally.
"OPEC's predatory pricing policies
are clear," he intoned. "As a result, more
than 160,000 layoffs have been announced,
over half of U.S. rigs have been laid
down, and capital expenditures have been
reduced by more than $62 billion."
Meanwhile, he noted, the configuration
of the country's refining capacity was a
poor fit for its new output. "With U.S.
refineries mostly set for heavy crudes,
our light sweet crudes have nowhere to
go," Stark detailed. "Ninety percent of
the world's light sweet refining capacity
lies outside of the United States. Lifting
the ban would allow domestic producers
to access these markets."

LEFT: Kathleen Sgamma (left), Western Energy Alliance vice president of government and
public affairs, presents the Western Energy Alliance Award for Distinguished Service in
Government Affairs to Tim Stewart, the Alliance's Washington representative. RIGHT:
Alliance Vice President of Development and Operations Brian Fakharzadeh (left) presents
the inaugural Western Energy Alliance Roustabout Award for Service to Bobby Plowman
on the occasion of Plowman's retirement from Halliburton.

Lifting the ban on crude exports will
increase U.S. gross domestic product 1
percent, create 400,000 new jobs, slash
the country's trade deficit, exert new
pressure on dictatorial regimes such as
Russia and Iran, and advance the United
States toward energy independence.
"The American energy renaissance
has been called the single most defining
aspect that will shape the next 50 years,"
Stark related. "Lifting the export ban is
an important step in that direction."

A Moral Case
Alex Epstein, author of The Moral
Case for Fossil Fuels and founder of the
Center for Industrial Progress, explained
to the Alliance why the industry kept
losing policy debates.
"Your opponents are proactive and
overwhelming," Epstein described. "They
are united by a moral ideal that forces
you to prove you are less evil than you
are portrayed, but never allows you to
take the high ground."
Ultimately, he advised, oil and gas
supporters must focus on the assumptions
that underlie their opponents' arguments
and contrast them with their own. "Defining the issue as impacting 'climate change'
is an anti-human perspective," Epstein
pointed out. "Supporters of fossil fuels
lose the argument before they start. The
real issue is the benefit fossil fuels provide
in improving our standard of living and
the quality of our environment."
Epstein, whose book has appeared
on the New York Times bestseller list,
concluded that developing and using more
fossil fuels "is morally obligatory for
continued human progress."
Continuing Demand
Wigley's remarks also acknowledged
that slumping oil and gas prices were
hitting Alliance members in a variety of

ways.
"This is my first downturn in this industry," he said. "Some members are
nervous and cutting costs wherever they
can. Most tell me they have been through
these markets before and the industry always comes out better from the experience."
More than ever, he continued, those
companies rely on the Alliance to fight
the good fight. "We are one of the few
groups that take on these tough issues
and do it in a way that is impactful," he
suggested. "They tell us, 'don't stop fighting because the stuff just keeps flowing
out of Washington.'"
Meanwhile, he warned, the industry's
opponents want to capitalize on its difficulties. "The other side knows we are in
a down market and will try to take advantage," Wigley said. "It's clear this
administration does not like us and does
not care if we are seeing tough times. It
is heartening to hear members tell us
that they will keep us whole during this
rough patch."
Awards
Sgamma presented the Western Energy
Alliance Award for Distinguished Service
in Government Affairs to Tim Stewart,
the Alliance's Washington representative.
Stewart, who has lobbied for the Alliance in the U.S. Capitol for more than
20 years, was cited for his role in passage
of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and in
support for a bill to continue supplemental
funding for BLM permitting activities
that passed in 2014.
Brian Fakharzadeh, the Alliance's vice
president of development and operations,
presented the first Western Energy Alliance Roustabout Award for Service to
Bobby Plowman on the occasion of Plowman's retirement from Halliburton. ❒
SEPTEMBER 2015 139
American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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