American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2017 - 85

ConventionSection: Illinois Oil & Gas Association

IOGA Adjusts To Number Of Changes
CARMI, IL.-While the nation's oil
and gas industry rebuilds itself amid improving global commodity prices, the
Illinois Oil & Gas Association has its
own renovations under way, as it looks
to regain membership, bring a new president and executive director up to speed,
and improve lines of communication to
its members.
According to IOGA President Bryan
Dicus, the association saw its membership
numbers stumble during the past two
years as lower oil and gas prices crippled
industry activity across the Illinois Basin
and the nation.
"IOGA built the numbers back a little
in 2016, but the association took a big
hit in 2015," says Dicus. "The association
did see some solidification in 2016. We
have some ideas for increasing membership. IOGA has to be better at getting
out its message of what it does for members, and that it needs members' help.
There are a large number of operators in
the Illinois Basin who are not IOGA
members, and they should be. IOGA will
be targeting those people."
One of the association benefits IOGA
will highlight is its work with national
industry groups, such as the Independent
Petroleum Association of America, National Stripper Well Association, and others, Dicus says.
"IOGA members are worried about tax
reform proposals under the new presidential
administration, especially percentage depletion," he describes. "That is very important to operators' livelihoods in the
Illinois Basin. IOGA has a seat at the table
with those national organizations and always
is heard. The optimistic feeling is that
maybe, for once, the industry can go on
offense. That is the key: Give operators a
breather from playing defense, and let us
turn the economy around. Let us pursue
these issues from an offensive direction
while we have friendly people in office."
New Leaders
Dicus says he will turn over his presidential duties at the association's annual
meeting in March to Craig Hedin, vice
president and general counsel at Gesell's
Pump Sales & Service Inc., in Whittington, Il.
"As I come to the end of my term as
IOGA president, I am humbled and certainly leave with an appreciation of the

many folks whom I have followed. It was
a rough term economically for the industry,
although others before me have had much
harder terms for other reasons. The presidency is a struggle; it takes a lot of time
and effort, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. IOGA is a great group
of people," Dicus reflects.
Hedin praises Dicus' presidency, saying
his technical skills and political knowledge
have proven invaluable. He also mentions
plans to create another IOGA position
for Dicus that will allow the association
to continue to use his talents.
The association's new executive director, Sam Barbee, replaces Brad
Richards. Dicus says Barbee's background
is in association management. "He has
so many ideas for how the association
needs to be run, and how it can increase
revenue and benefits to IOGA members.
He brings a world of ideas and energy,
and I look forward to seeing where he
takes the association," Dicus says.
Protecting the interests of oil and gas
producers in federal and state regulatory
and legislative environments remains
IOGA's priority, Barbee assures. Even
so, Barbee says he sees room in the association's structure to create and adopt services-either internally or through partnerships-to improve membership benefits.
"Membership organizations are driven
by their services, which can be very beneficial," he assesses. "The question for
IOGA members is what those services
do for their bottom lines, and what the
association could do, service-wise, for
the membership that they normally would
have to do for themselves. IOGA will
explore those options in the years to
come."
Barbee suggests his experience in representing automobile dealers will transfer
to working for independent oil and gas operators because both groups typically consist
of family-run businesses, and both call for
nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit.
"I look forward to representing this
industry. I am in a learning curve, and
am enjoying the early stages of what I
think will be-especially in today's world-
a constant fight to educate the public
about removing a nontoxic resource that
God put in the ground. I look forward to
that challenge," Barbee relates. "God's
natural resources, for some reason, have
been vilified, and that is not healthy to

the state, the country, businesses or consumers."
Information Collection Requests
IOGA's new executive director reports
one of the first concerns he has faced is
the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's information collection request
survey, which is the initial part of a
process to federally regulate existing facilities' methane emissions.
"I have seen this kind of stuff in other
industries that I have represented, and I
am not convinced there is a true goal. If
there is one, it may not be attainable,"
Barbee says. "Also, the headache and
expense imposed on operators far outweighs the positive consequences that
would come from this ICR survey. Again,
I am new to the oil and gas industry, but
I have seen this dog and this tail before."
In mid-January, Barbee wrote to U.S.
Representative John Shimkus, R-Il., who
serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and chairs the House
panel overseeing EPA and the Clean Air
Act. In the letter, Barbee asks Shimkus
to immediately ask the EPA to extend
the 60-day survey deadline to a minimum
of 120 days, and ultimately issue a complete stay of the ICR program until it can
be justified.
The majority of Illinois operators are
small family-run businesses with limited
resources, and are struggling to stay in
business, he points out. According to
EPA estimates, it will cost $18 million
for the oil and gas industry to comply
with the operator survey. "Compliance
could cost some small producers several
thousand dollars, and many will not be
able to meet the short, 60-day deadline.
In addition, the potential penalty of more
than $90,000 a day for noncompliance is
enough to force some operators completely
out of business," Barbee warns.
Dicus says IOGA is working with
IPAA and other national trade groups to
minimize the ICR survey's financial impacts on the oil and gas community. ❒

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FEBRUARY 2017 85

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