American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 26

IndustryDigest
reau is allowed to waive requirements
for a company to provide supplemental
financial assurance. Under the proposed
guidelines, those waivers would no
longer be available. But, the bureau
says a company could self-insure as
long as its decommissioning liabilities
totaled 10 percent or less of its tangible
net worth.
BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper was quoted in a news report as saying the bureau is revising its financial
assurance guidelines to better reflect the
realities of offshore energy development, which include aging infrastructure and increasing decommissioning
costs as companies install pipelines and
production platforms in deeper waters
farther from shore.
Media sources note the proposed
guidance dovetails with another BOEM
initiative that seeks to revise underlying
financial assurance regulations that potentially would give the bureau more
freedom to use data from credit-rating
agencies and other services in assigning
risks to individual companies.
The proposed guidance is available
at www.boem.gov/risk-management. ❒

characteristics of these wastes, and the
management practices associated with
storing, treating and disposing of them.
STRONGER adds that wastes subject
to hazardous waste management
regulations under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act are not
included in the guidelines.
STRONGER says it is looking for
states to volunteer for fluid reviews. Its
goal is to aid states "in evaluating and
improving their regulations, and
identifying and sharing innovative
regulatory approaches to this important
topic," it states.
STRONGER adds that it continues
to offer "a 'menu' of review options to
states, wherein a state can select which
guideline section or sections to
volunteer for a review."
In addition to the new fluids section,
the organization notes its guidelines
encompass areas such as waste
management, abandoned sites, NORM,
stormwater management, hydraulic
fracturing, and air quality.
STRONGER's 2015 guidelines are
available online at
www.strongerinc.org. r

IPAA, AOGA Develop
Arctic Energy Center

STRONGER Guidelines
Include Section On Fluids

NORMAN, OK.-STRONGER Inc.
(State Review of Oil and Natural Gas
Environmental Regulations) has
incorporated a new section on reused
and recycled fluids in its 2015
guidelines. STRONGER says these
guidelines address water management
planning, waste management,
transportation, and the treatment and
storage of nonhazardous oil field
wastes.
According to STRONGER, its 2015
guidelines also include updates in its
general, administrative, technical
criteria, naturally occurring radioactive
materials, and hydraulic fracturing
sections.
STRONGER says the new section
on reused and recycled fluids
establishes criteria by which states may
address waste management practices
unique to exploration, drilling and
production operations, and includes
drilling fluids and cuttings, produced
water, and other wastes associated with
E&P activities. The criteria cover the
chemical and radiological

26 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

business in Spencer, W.V.
Hildreth earned his bachelor's in
finance and accounting from Glenville
State College in 1974, and resides in
Spencer, W.V., with his wife, Rebecca,
and three children.
IOGAWV says Freshwater serves as
vice president of Reserve Oil & Gas
Inc., an Appalachian Basin producer,
and president of Contractor Services
Inc., a fully integrated oil and gas
contracting firm. He began his industry
career in 1987, working on well
servicing, pipeline construction and
well cementing projects for Contractor
Services. Freshwater received a B.S.
and M.S. in civil engineering from
West Virginia University.
Monteleone is a partner in the
Charleston office of Bowles Rice and
serves as the firm's chief financial
officer, IOGAWV says. He also is the
owner of Mountain Lion Enterprises
Inc. and Tygart River Oil & Gas LLC,
and serves as general counsel to Waco
Oil & Gas Co. Inc. Monteleone served
on the IOGAWV Board of Directors
from 2010 to 2013. r

JON
HILDRETH

IOGAWV Elects Hildreth
As Its 2015-16 President
CHARLESTON, W.V.-The
Independent Oil and Gas Association of
West Virginia has chosen Jon Hildreth
as its 2015-16 president. Also serving
as association officers are Vice
President J. Scott Freshwater and
Secretary/Treasurer Marc Monteleone.
The association reports Hildreth is
president of Megan Oil and Gas
Company Inc., a production and gas
utility. He also is part of the
management team of Roy G. Hildreth
and Son Inc., and Hildreth Oil Field
Supply Inc. IOGAWV says those
operations are part of a thirdgeneration-owned family oil and gas

WASHINGTON-The Independent
Petroleum Association of America is
working with the Alaska Oil & Gas
Association to develop the Arctic
Energy Center, which they describe as a
joint effort to advance greater public
understanding of energy development in
the U.S. Arctic.
"While the region has been
extensively explored and studied for
decades, much of that information can
be difficult to find. The center was
created to serve as a hub of fact-based
research, reports, news and analyses of
Arctic energy development," says Kara
Moriarty, president and chief executive
officer of AOGA.
"The fact is we have been
responsibly developing energy in the
Alaskan Arctic for decades to the great
benefit of our country, to the state of
Alaska, and to local communities,"
Moriarty adds.
The two groups say the center will
highlight insights and scientific
understanding of the Arctic
environment, job and resource
opportunities for U.S. companies, the

http://www.boem.gov/risk-management http://www.strongerinc.org

American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015

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