American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016 - 24

IndustryDigest
the association adds.
To be eligible to play golf and
qualify for prizes in the scramble, the
association says entrants must have
preregistered and prepaid by Sept. 6.
Participants also must be registered for
the picnic to participate. Golfers who do
not sign up with a foursome will be
assigned one, IOPA Tri-State says.
The barbecue lunch will be served
from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, call 812-4799451 or e-mail iopatristate@gmail.com.
Tickets also will be available at the usual
ticket outlets, IOPA Tri-State says. ❒

Republicans Fight
Fraud Allegations Over
Climate Change Dissent
WASHINGTON-The battle over
climate change dissent is engaging the
legal sector, with a U.S. House of
Representatives committee issuing
subpoenas and a group of state
attorneys general criticizing their
counterparts for targeting companies
with accusations of business, securities
and consumer fraud.
In mid-July, House Science, Space
and Technology Committee Chairman
Lamar Smith, R-Tx., demanded the
attorneys general of New York and
Massachusetts, and eight antidevelopment groups, provide
documents related to what he called
their "coordinated efforts to deprive
companies, nonprofit organizations,
scientists and scholars of their First
Amendment right."
Smith issued subpoenas to New York
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman,
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura
Healy and the anti-development
organizations. "The attorneys general
have appointed themselves to decide
what is valid and what is invalid
regarding climate change. The attorneys
general are pursuing a political agenda
at the expense of scientists' right to free
speech," he says.
The committee sent letters to the
subpoenaed individuals and
organizations on May 18, June 20 and
July 6, asking for documents and copies
of communications. All refused to
comply with the investigation, Smith's
office states.
Last November, Schneiderman
subpoenaed more than a decade's worth
24 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

of ExxonMobil's financial records, emails and documents (AOGR, May
2016, pg. 20).
The Science Committee's actions
come a month after 13 Republican
attorneys generals attacked AGs United
for Clean Power-a coalition of 16
Democratic and one independent AG-
which announced plans to investigate
whether fossil fuel companies committed
fraud on investors by misleading them on
the impacts of climate change.
At a March 29 AGs United for Clean
Power press conference, seven AGs
announced plans to work together on
climate change-related initiatives,
including investigating whether fossil
fuel companies such as ExxonMobil
misled investors and the public on the
impact of climate change on their
businesses. The group says its coalition
of law enforcement agencies is
defending climate change progress
made under President Barack Obama.
The Republican attorneys generals
say their colleagues' actions runs
contrary to typical fraud investigations
because their investigation targets a
particular type of market participant, the
Clean Power attorneys general identify
themselves with the competitors of their
investigative targets, and the
investigation implicates an ongoing
public policy debate. ❒

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
increasing clean energy also will grow
the continent's economies through the
clean-energy, energy-efficiency and
transmission sectors adding 300,000
jobs over the next decade. They add
these efforts will help all three countries
meet their commitments under the Paris
climate change agreement.
The countries project that if they
follow current trends to reach their 50
percent target, U.S. clean energy will
increase to nearly 1.9 trillion kilowatt
hours of generation by 2025.
"Moreover, energy efficiency also is
projected to grow, reducing the total
generation demanded and contributing
to reaching the 50 percent target across
the three countries," they say.
They cite a study by the White
House Council of Economic Advisers
that claims innovations in energy
storage-and smart markets that allow
for electricity demand to respond to
energy prices-provide the opportunity
to ease the integration onto the electric
grid of increasing quantities of
renewable energy.
They add that those innovations will
complement greater transmission
interconnection to provide a more
resilient electric grid that can
incorporate clean energy generation
across North America. ❒

Leaders Sign A Pledge
To Boost Clean Energy
Across North America

NSWA Airs Concerns
Over GOP Plans To Cut
Percentage Depletion

WASHINGTON-The North
American Continent's three leaders have
signed a pledge to generate 50 percent
of the continent's power using clean
energy by 2025, the White House says.
To support that goal, the three
countries plan a range of initiatives,
including cutting power waste by
aligning 10 appliance efficiency
standards by 2019, installing 5,000
megawatts of cross-border transmission
projects to facilitate deploying clean
power, and planning how to add more
renewables to the electric grid on a
continental basis, a press statement
details. The pledge also includes
commitments to coordinate lowering
vehicle emissions standards.
According to statements issued by
President Barack Obama, Mexican
President Pena Nieto and Canadian

WASHINGTON-A proposal to
overhaul the U.S. tax code unveiled by
two Republican congressmen is
sparking concerns from the oil and gas
industry over its plans to eliminate
percentage depletion.
In their Better Way Tax Reform
Blueprint, House Speaker Paul Ryan, RWi., and Ways and Means Chairman
Kevin Brady, R-Tx., offer what they call
an agenda for the next Congress to
consider.
The National Stripper Well
Association points out that the proposal
appears to remove the percentage
depletion provision as part of its plan to
fight "a maze of special deductions,
exemptions, credits, phase-ins and other
rules." The association adds the
revisions seek to eliminate "special
provisions in favor of dramatically
American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016

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