American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2018 - 28

Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas
Association President and CEO Dan
Weaver concurred, pointing out that PIOGA had enjoyed success on numerous
issues such by working with pro-business
groups. "Depending on the topic, there
are upward of 20 organizations involved,"
he described. "The oil and gas industry
can help behind scenes."
Despite the controversy about midstream infrastructure, Weaver later indicated that no such negative furor had
arisen over one of the country's largest
downstream projects: the ethane cracker
plant Shell Chemical Appalachia is building in Beaver County, Pa.
"People are excited about that. There
is no big protest," he reported. "The state
actually has gotten behind that and is
waving flags and banners about how
many jobs will come from it and the
plastics build-out to follow."
Local Authority
Ohio Oil & Gas Association Vice President of Public Affairs Penny Seipel was
among the Liaison Committee participants
to discuss local regulatory authority over
oil and gas projects, and reported that
the Ohio attorney general had certified
language that the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund had submitted
to place on the ballot an amendment to
Ohio's constitution.
"CELDF is suggesting that local control
trumps everything," she summarized. "If
the community does not want the same set
of laws-(such as) gun, environmental, minimum wage or oil and gas laws-at not only
the state or federal, but even international
levels, it can do what it wants. It basically
promotes anarchy at the local level."
OOGA is taking the threat very seriously, Seipel advised, although she acknowledged that CELDF would have to
clear a number of taller hurdles. "Attempts
to modify our constitution are rare," she

remarked. "Fewer than 50 percent actually
make it onto the ballot, and not all of
them pass."
Meanwhile, Weaver noted, a federal
judge in early January issued $52,000 in
sanctions against CELDF attorneys for
using what the court deemed to be unreasonable tactics (see story page 18).
"If you ever have had to deal with CELDF,
that may open a lot of possibilities for
looking at whether you can recoup some
of your fees," Weaver considered.
Meanwhile, reported California Independent Petroleum Association CEO Rock
Zierman, California's industry saw a state
court overturn an anti-industry initiative
passed in Monterey County. Although it
was characterized as a fracturing ban, it
also sought to pre-empt all state oil and gas
rules, forbid new drilling, and ban all produced water injection and impoundment.
"Since the water cut in that area is 90
percent, that is a shutdown initiative," he
characterized. "The judge actually did
not rule on the fracturing ban, nor did he
rule on the takings issue, because he
ruled that it was pre-empted by state and
federal law.
"The fracturing ban is going to stand
unless we appeal that part, which gets
complicated because there is no fracturing
occurring in the area," Zierman continued.
"The nongovernmental organizations have
appealed the (pre-emption part of the)
decision already, but it could be a real
game changer, because if it is sustained
by the appellate court and goes to the
Supreme Court, we have been waiting
for a case to explicitly say locals cannot
regulate downhole operations. Obviously,
they can regulate land use, but this judge
agrees with us that what happens below
the surface is a matter of state and federal
law. That would pour cold water on all
the other initiatives in municipalities
throughout California."
Pivoting to another topic, Zierman

The Community Environmental
Legal Defense Fund is trying to
amend Ohio's constitution
through a ballot initiative, reports
Ohio Oil & Gas Association Vice
President of Public Affairs Penny
Seipel. According to Seipel, the
effort was seeking for local laws
to override state, federal or even
international requirements.

28 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Natural gas price spikes in New York City
and Boston during early January's frigid
weather are a consequence of inadequate
infrastructure, emphasizes Energy Equipment & Infrastructure Alliance President
and CEO Toby Mack. Mack also pointed
to the signiﬁcant number of workers associated with pipeline construction as
natural allies for pushing back against
"keep it in the ground" activists.

predicted the Trump administration's efforts to expand federal offshore oil and
gas leasing to the East and West coasts
was likely to backfire against Golden
State producers.
"Ironically, it hurts us," he assessed.
"We are hearing about leasing in some
areas off northern California, where I don't
think there is any real interest in producing.
However, since California is home of 'the
resistance,' there is a knee-jerk reaction to
anything from Trump, so bills are being
introduced already to prevent new drilling
and stop existing production."
STRONGER RCRA
Another topic of discussion dealt with
threats to oil and gas wastes' statutory
exemption to being regulated as hazardous
under the federal Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act. Although state regulators set up the State Review of Oil &
Natural Gas Environmental Regulations
(STRONGER) program to identify and
address any regulatory gaps in state programs, during the final months of the
Obama administration, environmental
groups persuaded EPA to sign a consent
decree that required it to determine its
regulatory obligations by March 2019.
However, Fuller indicated, IPAA had
urged EPA to make short work of the
matter and cite the STRONGER reviews
as fulfilling EPA's obligation.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2018

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