American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - 151

expecting more than 800 attendees, including
both IOGAWV members and walk-ins,
over the course of the two-day program.
Burd, Hildreth and Freshwater all
highlight the producers' presentations,
which will take place during the morning
session on Feb. 3. Hildreth says several
of the presentations will update legislative
and regulatory issues such as the pooling
and AST legislation, as well as report on
pipeline projects and present ideas for
how to survive in the face of low prices
and high transportation costs.
According to Freshwater, on Tuesday,
Feb. 2, the meeting will begin with technical
sessions by C&J Energy Services, Schlumberger Oilfield Services, and U.S. Well
Services Inc., respectively. There will be
a luncheon for meeting attendees and Desk
and Derrick Club of West Virginia members,
sponsored by the three companies. The
technical sessions will be free for all industry attendees, Freshwater says.
That evening, the association will host
its annual GOpac Reception, with admission by donation only, followed by
the Membership Legislative Reception,
sponsored by Dominion Field Services
and Dominion Transmission. Burd notes
that the legislative reception always has
been well-attended by both members and
legislators because it provides networking
opportunities both within the association,
and between members and their state
representatives.
Invited to participate on the Wednesday,
Feb. 3, executive presentations, which
Burd, Hildreth and Freshwater all identify
as a highlight of the meeting's agenda,
are:
* Mike John, founder, president and
chief executive officer of Northeast Natural
Energy LLC;
* Paul M. Rady, chairman and CEO
of Antero Resources;
* James W. Crews, vice president of
Northeast Development for MarkWest
Energy Partners; and
* Dirk Straussfeld, executive vice
president and chief operating officer of
Quantum Utility Generation.
The morning's proceedings will conclude with a presentation titled, "2015
Merger and Acquisition Update, and Marcellus Utica Production Analysis," by
Tim Knobloch of James Knobloch Petroleum Consultants Inc. and Martin
Shumway of Shumway Resources LLC.
After the Producers' Luncheon, sponsored
by Antero Resources, Freshwater says afternoon sessions will include discussions
on the oil and gas industry's insurance
market, the North American gas industry's
future, and cybersecurity. Association leaders
also will be updating members on state-

and association-related issues.
Wednesday evening, Freshwater confirms the association will host a membership reception, banquet, and awards
ceremony. The Capitol Steps, a group of
performers who all work in the U.S.
Capitol, will provide entertainment following the banquet.
Burd describes the meeting, and the
technical sessions especially, as "an op-

portunity to talk about the latest technological advances in Appalachia," and adds
that he does not expect attendance to
waver from years past.
"Sometimes, in the past, IOGAWV
has had its strongest meetings in these
kinds of price conditions," he reasons.
"There is a sense of urgency among members to find out what they can do to make
more gains and mitigate losses."
❒

USFWS Proposed Habitat Rule
Is Dangerous Shift In Authority
Editor's Note: The following was
published initially as a guest editorial in
the Casper, Wy., Star Tribune.
By Dan Naatz
WASHINGTON-The ability to designate critical habitat-areas that are necessary to the survival or recovery of a
species-is an essential tool of the Endangered Species Act.
When used appropriately, it helps ensure that important areas where endangered
or threatened species reside are not destroyed or adversely modified. Unfortunately, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
has proposed new regulations that would
expand dramatically the areas that could
be designated as critical habitat. This expansion has no basis in law and could
threaten economic development activities
and job creation across the country.
Under the proposed rule, USFWS
would be able to designate areas as critical
habitat that were not already (and perhaps
never would be) necessary to the survival
of a species. The new rule essentially
would turn the USFWS into a national
zoning commission with the authority to
set aside tracts of land for species conservation based solely on the agency's
projections about the effects climate
change might have on habitat.
This is a sharp departure from current
regulation, which generally limits critical
habitat designations to areas that are occupied by species. Only under special
circumstances does the ESA allow critical
habitat designations of unoccupied areas,
and it requires that two conditions be
met:
* The occupied habitat must be inadequate to ensure the conservation of
the species.
* The unoccupied habitat must have
physical or biological features that are
essential to the survival of the species.
Under its proposed rule, USFWS would
no longer need to meet either of those

conditions. To make a designation, USFWS would simply need to find that "it
is reasonable to infer from the record
that (the unoccupied areas) eventually
will become necessary to support the
species' recovery."
For example, if the USFWS believed
a low-lying area occupied by a species
eventually might become too hot, it could
designate as critical habitat an upland
area nearby on the theory that this area
potentially could serve as a future location
to which the species could migrate.
Additional Modifications
The USFWS has proposed two other
regulatory changes as well that would
impact critical habitat designations. The
first includes a change to the definition
of "destruction and adverse modification,"
which would authorize the agency to protect not only habitat features that were
present currently, but features that could
someday develop and become essential
to conserving the species.
The other proposed regulation would
change how USFWS granted exclusions
from critical habitat designations, and
would essentially adopt-as policy-a de
facto moratorium on considering federal
lands for exclusion.
Taken together, these proposals would
change the way critical habitat was designated across the country, drastically
expanding the areas that could be eligible
for designation.
All federally permitted activity in areas
that are designated as critical habitat-
from oil and natural gas production, to
home building, to transportation and infrastructure projects-would face increased
regulatory hurdles and uncertainty. This
could result in project delays, increased
costs and job losses as unoccupied lands
suddenly were placed off-limits or made
the subject of new restrictions on development.
For states where significant economic
activity is supported by energy developJANUARY 2016 151

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016

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