American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016 - 90

In discussions about industry issues with
colleagues, Salas recalled many of them
urged higher taxes for operators, and he
had to inform them the state taxed oil
and gas still in the ground.
"Legislators, whether they are from
Davis or Richmond, bring preconceived
notions," he said. "We need people who
are not chasing after headlines, people
who ask the right questions, people who
are looking at the data and asking what
this means overall, not just for their area
but for the state."
One argument that Salas said he used
was reminding industry opponents that
the alternative to California-produced energy was importing it, with the added environmental impact of shipping.
"There always is going to be another
SB 350," Salas predicted. "It seems that
activist groups simply throw bunches of
stuff at the wall and see what sticks. It is
beholden on everyone in this room to
combat that with facts and science. That
takes a coordinated effort."
Executive Overreach
Legislators represent the people's direct
will, but Congressman Tom McClintock,
R-Ca., warned CIPA the executive's branch
expansion was a fundamental threat to
American freedom. The country's founders
saw concentrated power as the foundation
of tyranny, he said, and so they divided
government: one unit to write the laws,
one to carry them out, and the third to resolve disputes.
Article One of the Constitution vests
all legislative powers in Congress, he
said. "If decisions were made, America's
founders wanted a big, ugly contentious
brawl. They wanted every voice in the
country involved in that decision," McClintock described. "From the very outset
of this republic, Congress and its sole
authority to make law was considered
absolutely central to the form and function
of the federal government."

Participating in a legislative panel on California energy policy at the California Independent
Petroleum Association's annual meeting are, from left, Assemblymen Jim Cooper, Rudy
Salas and Mike Gipson.

Once decisions were made, the Constitution created the executive branch to
carry them out with single-minded vigor,
he said. Article Two authorizes the president to faithfully execute laws passed
by Congress. However, McClintock indicated, the president was not allowed to
pick which laws to enforce, and could
not make laws by fiat.
Under Article Three, the Supreme
Court settles disagreements between the
legislative and executive branches. McClintock noted that the judiciary could
not make decisions nor could it enforce
them; it could only resolve disputes.
"I have repeated this civics lesson because understanding the fundamental mechanics of the Constitution that protects
our freedom is central to understanding
the threat from within that we now face,"
McClintock warned. "For more than a century, since the insinuation of the Progressive
movement into American politics, this clear

Congressman Tom McClintock (left), R-Ca., poses with
Rock Zierman, chief executive
officer of the California Independent Petroleum Association, before his remarks at
the association's annual
meeting, held June 9-12 in
Napa, Ca.

90 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

separation of powers slowly has eroded,
until there is nothing separating those
powers in the modern administrative state."
He said Congress had ceded both legislative and judicial authority to the executive branch, and today the executive
branch was writing 10 times more laws
than the legislative.
"These laws are never brought before
Congress, so the elected representatives
of the people have no say in them. Their
constituents have no way to petition for
redress of grievances or to hold (the executive branch) accountable for the laws
that we now have to live under. Once an
agency has written a law, that same agency
enforces it," he said.
When an American citizen runs afoul
of an agency law, he first must appear
before an administrative law judge, selected and answerable to the same agency
that made the law and that brought the
charges, he said. If an agency judge imposes a fine on behalf of that agency,
that fine typically stays with the agency,
beyond Congress' power of the purse.
"Justice is no longer blind, and it is
no longer disinterested in the outcome,"
McClintock asserted. "The accused must
pay the fine that is imposed by this kangaroo court before he can even plead his
side before an actual federal court with
all the due process protections guaranteed
under the Bill of Rights, including trial
by jury."
In response, House Republicans continue to support the Regulations from
the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS)
Act, McClintock said. The bill would require any executive branch rule or regulation with an annual economic impact

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016

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