American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - 124

The Presidential Papers
ations, but also the national groups, including the National Stripper Well Association, Domestic Energy Producer's Alliance and the Independent Petroleum
Association of America.
Independent producers and service
and supply companies could help halt
this onslaught by continuing to support
local associations and make sure they
have a strong memberships, allowing
them to stand up against these threats.
As often happens during these downturns,
many association members are looking
to cut expenses and consider letting their
membership lapse.
Unless you are leaving the industry
permanently, this is no time to be weakening your state association's ability to
fight higher taxes and regulations that
could cost you and the industry millions
of dollars in the future. Your association
dues and volunteer time are a small price
to pay for the benefits it provides to the
industry.

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Federal Meetings
I also would encourage you to join
one or more of the national associations
listed earlier. NSWA and DEPA are fighting hard and are getting out the facts to
our federal representatives on the effect
and importance of percentage depletion
and IDCs.
As an NSWA member, I traveled with
other members to Washington to meet
with many key members of the House
Ways and Means Committee. Our goal
was to specifically address the devastating
effects on small independent producers
if they were to lose percentage depletion
under any tax-reform proposals. These
face-to-face meetings between members
of Congress and the staff who draft tax
reform, and the small producers who will
feel the full brunt of the loss of this tax
provision, were vitally important.
Even if you can't make Washington
trips, it is important as members to communicate with both your state and U.S.
representatives. Those elected officials
need to hear how your business will be
affected by the policies and legislation
they are being asked to support or vote
on. Don't hesitate to write a letter or email, or call your representative.
It also is important to contribute to
the political campaigns of those representatives, both state and federal, who
understand and support our concerns.
During these tough times, those don't
have to be large contributions. If all members of our industry would donate even a
small amount, the numbers would send a
strong message that we appreciate the
candidate's willingness to support our issues.
New Rules
As Americans face a fragile economy,
it is important to pull back the curtain on
the ideologically driven processes many
federal regulatory agencies are using to
justify an avalanche of costly new rules
and regulations. Extracting oil and natural
gas is not a risk-free process. In fact, it
requires effective regulation, which exists
in Kansas and many other states. Several
states have, and will likely continue to,
expressed their state's rights to regulate
the oil and natural gas industry.
KIOGA supports the state regulatory
process. Federal regulatory agencies have
shown a propensity to base decisions on
political motivations instead of sound

124 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

science. We need a regulatory approach
that invites input from industry and bases
rule-making on sound science, legitimate
cost/benefit analyses, and economic impact.
If anyone is looking for proof of the
power of the free market and American
ingenuity, just look at the speed with
which large investments and human and
material resources moved to the U.S.
shale plays. It should be noted that this
renaissance in fossil fuel production and
the immense benefit to the U.S. economy
did not take place on federally owned
and controlled land.
This is why it should be of great concern to all users of energy in this country
that the government is trying to take effective control of more and more privately
owned land through the use of sue-andsettle tactics between government regulatory bodies and environmental groups-
something I call environmental cronyism-or by the president's use of executive
orders to bypass Congress. This is being
done with no regard for the potential
high cost to U.S. industries, employers
or consumers, or the amount of benefits,
if any, to the environment. Congress needs
to address this problem of sue-and-settle
to take back control of implementing the
laws it passes.
Kansas is a great place to explore for
and produce oil and natural gas. The
state has a legislature that supports small
businesses and a regulatory body that
understands the importance of working
with the industry as it proposes, develops
and implements new regulations.
In KIOGA, we have a leader in two
areas. The first is fighting off the previously
mentioned challenges from a hostile presidential administration. The second is educating our elected officials on the importance of our industry to the Kansas
and U.S. economies, and on the harm
that ever-increasing regulations and taxes
will have on our ability to grow jobs and
provide the country with plentiful and
reliable energy.
❒

Coming In February
Official Convention Section for
the Texas Independent Producers &
Royalty Owners Association annual
meeting, Feb. 22-23 in San Antonio.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016

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