American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 149

theme in detailing his efforts to counter
misleading anti-industry phrases through
the documentary, Fractured: Language,
Lies and Energy, which he said was scheduled
for release in late fall, following a "Crowdfunding" campaign in late September.
He said terms such as clean energy,
which typically refers to solar and wind
power, should instead be applied to coal,
oil, gas and hydro, which are abundant
energy resources that improve the quality
of life and the environment.
His message in Fractured also combats
the use of the work "frack" as a substitute
for profanity, Mathis said. And "fossil fuel"
is not the proper description for fuel sources
that power everything, he said, explaining
that the description carried a connotation
that proponents were backward.
Instead, Mathis coined a new term for
traditional energy resources: TECHMAP,
an acronym for transportation, energy,
cooking, heating, manufacturing, agriculture
and products. "The general public doesn't
understand the full extent of what these
resources do for their lives," he stated.
Marita Noon, executive director of Energy Makes America Great Inc. and its
companion educational organization, Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy,
told IPANM banners carried at the People's
Climate March on Sept. 21, 2014, in New
York, were evidence anti-oil-and-gas activists promoted a purely socialist agenda.
"People were carrying signs that said
'system change, not climate change,'"
Noon recounted during IPANM's morning
plenary session on Aug. 7. "They said
climate change was the symptom, capitalism was the disease, and socialism
was the cure. They came out of the closet
about what they really were after."
The anti-industry attitude by environmentalists is wearing thin with the American public and others, Noon contended.

The oil and gas industry pays up to $2.7
billion a year into New Mexico state and
local government coffers, including $1.0
billion to the state's general fund, state
Secretary of Finance and Administration
Thomas Clifford advises IPANM's annual
meeting, Aug. 5-7 in Albuquerque.

She noted the government of Canada had
called the anti-petroleum movement a
threat to that nation's security. And a
Gallop poll conducted earlier this year
shows just over 50 percent of people-
down from 63 percent in 1989-are concerned about climate change, she said,
"despite the most extensive and expensive
public relations campaign ever foisted
on the American public."
Youth Movement
Environmentalists now are using children to push their anti-oil-and-gas agenda,
IPANM Executive Director Karin Foster
told members. She reviewed a lawsuit
filed in Washington state in which a
teenage girl and her mother, Zoe and
Salena Foster (no relation to Karin), persuaded a judge to order the State Department of Ecology to consider statewide
reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
"This is a new trend by the environmental community," Foster said. "They
are filing lawsuits under the name of
children, and it's hard for the judiciary
to say no to children. This movement is
going across the United States."
However, some pro-industry organizations are working to educate the public
and students about the oil and gas industry's
sizeable contribution to the U.S. economy
and quality of life, another speaker said.
The National Energy Education Development Project, which IPANM supported with a $5,000 contribution, is
teaching elementary, middle and high
school students about the science of energy, and is training students to take the
curriculum to other students and New
Mexico communities, said Barbara Lazar,
a teacher who heads the Energy Stars
2015 program, training students at Albuquerque's Bosque School.
Nationwide, she said, NEED held
more than 300 workshops last year and
has taught students about energy in 75,000
classrooms in 50 states.
Seven New Mexico teachers attended
the NEED National Conference in July
and committed to take the organization's
message to their classrooms, Lazar told
IPANM at the annual meeting's opening
session, Aug. 6. Training kids about the
science of energy is raising interest in
science, she said. "The kids are saying
they really like science," she reported.
Government Support
State leaders talked up the industry's
sizeable contribution to New Mexico's
government. New Mexico's oil and gas
industry pays up to $2.7 billion to state
and local governments, Thomas Clifford,
New Mexico secretary of finance and
administration, told IPANM. In fiscal

Higher production rates in Saudi Arabia
and the potential for Iranian oil to return
to world markets make the outlook for
crude oil prices uncertain, suggests
Daniel Fine, associate director of the
New Mexico Center for Energy Policy.

2015, the industry contributed $1.0 billion
to the state's general fund-not counting
the industry's income tax payments and
other revenue-making up 16 percent of
total general fund contributions, he said.
Counting industry contributions to New
Mexico's permanent funds, oil and gas
provide about 40 percent of general fund
revenues, Clifford said. "This industry is
paying more than its fair share," he lauded.
Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez
promised IPANM that he, Governor Susana Martinez and others "will continue
to promote an environment in which our
oil and gas industry can grow and thrive."
Commissioner Aubrey Dunn reported
the State Land Office took in $732 million
from industry operations in FY 2015,
down from $817 million last year. Based
on an average oil price of $45 a barrel,
he said he expected a little more than
$500 million in revenue next year.
Crude Oil Outlook
With Saudi Arabia hiking its production
and a possible treaty with Iran potentially
leading to greater Middle East output,
the oil price outlook is uncertain, said
Daniel Fine, associate director of the New
Mexico Center for Energy Policy. While
U.S. shale producers appear to be more
resilient than anticipated, Saudi production
was running at 10.5 million barrels a day
in mid-August, but peak production could
be substantially higher, given today's
technology, Fine suggested.
"We have in the Middle East an abundance of supply in an oversupplied market," he said.
However, he noted the region was
beset by security issues and differences
between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is
committed to being the dominant power
in the Middle East.
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SEPTEMBER 2015 149

American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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