American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2016 - 103

ConventionCoverage: Petroleum Association of Wyoming

Industry Must Fight False Perceptions
CASPER, WY.-The battle between
the oil and gas industry and anti-development organizations does not pit facts
against facts, because facts are not central
to the latter camp; rather, political agendas
are, argued Patrick Day, keynote luncheon
speaker for the Petroleum Association of
Wyoming's annual convention, held Aug.
16-17.
Day, a partner in Holland & Hart's
Cheyenne, Wy., office, said oil and gas advocates were arguing against agendas that
had little to do with science or the law.
Based on his experience in lawsuits
filed against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Day laid out two principles
for dealing with anti-development forces.
In addition to determining that facts do
not matter in fighting environmental arguments, he said the law was merely a tool.
"It is called rule by idea, not the rule
of law. I have seen this in the courtroom;
I have heard lawyers make these arguments. For someone with my training, it
is numbing," Day said. "If an idea is
deemed right and correct, then it is lawful,
even if the statutes say otherwise. We
have justices on the U.S. Supreme Court
who rule that way."
EPA Plan
Day pointed to EPA's proposed Clean
Power Plan as one example of nonscientific
politics affecting oil and gas producers.
He cited the agency's claim that the plan
would reduce emissions from coal-fired
power generation by requiring their owners
to invest in renewable energy or in natural
gas-fired generation.
"This is unprecedented," he asserted.
"EPA is saying that if one owns a coalfired power plant, in order to comply

with the rules, he must invest in his competitor's business."
The Clean Air Act, as passed by Congress in 1990, authorizes EPA to regulate
hazardous emissions, but Day said the
Clean Power Plan proposed to allow the
federal agency instead to shut in emission
sources.
"This is a remarkable effort by EPA
to completely reorganize the power industry, but here is where it gets even
more amazing: EPA projects that this
will save all of you money," he said.
"According to EPA's regulatory impact
analysis, your electric bills will go down.
That is just fantasy."
He pointed out that coal was the cheapest source of power, and the United States
could power itself for centuries at cents
per kilowatt hour by using Wyoming
coal. In countering EPA's projections,
Day noted how wrong Europe's reliance
on nonfossil fuels had proven, where renewable energy sources quadrupled utility
bills.
In addition to EPA's lack of statutory
authority to force producers to invest in
renewable sources, Day said the agency
sought to set a uniform national emission
standard applicable to every state, even
though the CAA stated that individual
states were to set their own standards.
Day added that he was one of a number
of lawyers challenging the EPA proposal
before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit, where arguments were
scheduled for the end of September.
He praised strong support by Wyoming
Governor Matthew Mead. "Wyoming has
appealed the Clean Power Plan," he said.
"Those state-sponsored cases are hugely
important. The states have special rights;

Patrick Day (left), keynote
luncheon speaker for the
Petroleum Association of
Wyoming's annual convention, visits with PAW
Chairman Randy Harris
before his presentation.
Day used the federal government's proposed Clean
Power Plan as an example
of how nonscientiﬁc politics were affecting oil and
gas producers.

the courts take their cases more seriously
than us money-grubbing corporate capitalist types."
Getting Involved
Most of Wyoming's population appreciates the fossil fuel industry's contributions, Day said, although he pointed
out many students were hearing anti-oiland-gas messages in schools.
"We all have to speak up," he urged.
"We have to be unafraid to be called
names. We have to have the facts . . . in
our pockets every time we have an opportunity to use them. I am talking about
conversations across the backyard fence
with your neighbor."
The oil and gas industry has been silenced by the name-calling of those advancing an anti-fossil-fuel narrative, Day
said.
"We all have to get over that feeling
and say what needs to be said every
chance we get," he insisted. "To the extent
we can, we all have to participate in promoting a more rational and fact-based
counter narrative. Speak at schools; take
every opportunity you get to talk about
what we do that is right. We need to do
this because our laws are being designed
by people who are pushing agendas that
have nothing to do with the laws themselves."
Day noted that President Obama
planned to set a national goal of having
the United States use renewable sources
for 50 percent of its power needs within
a decade. He said everyone in the oil and
gas industry knew that was impossible,
but that the president did not care about
that reality, nor how much the attempt
would cost.
"It is part of the lofty-sounding narrative
. . . that he and others of similar ilk advance. If you respond by saying that it is
not possible, they don't care," Day said.
"We all need to be speaking up."
❒

Coming In October
The latest insights on recoverable
in-place reserve assessments in the
Eagle Ford, and how the ongoing
evolution of horizontal drilling and
hydraulic fracturing designs are impacting long-term recovery factors.
SEPTEMBER 2016 103

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