American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2018 - 123

greater sage grouse habitat.
* In Idaho, BLM's proposal would
revise 23 RMPs or management framework plans, including Craters of the Moon
National Monument, Cascade, Medicine
Lodge and Sun Valley. The Idaho planning
area includes acreage in 28 counties, with
BLM administering 8.8 million acres of
greater sage grouse habitat.
* The Nevada/Northeastern California
revisions would amend 11 RMPs, including Alturas, Eagle Lake, ShoshoneEureka and Tonopah, in 17 counties. The
revisions cover 20.5 million acres of

greater sage grouse habitat.
* Eight RMPs in Oregon would be
revised under the proposed changes, including Brothers/La Pine, Lakeview and
Upper Deschutes in three counties. The
decision area covers 21,959 acres of habitat.
According to BLM, the draft RMP
and EIS addresses the designation of
sagebrush focal areas, mitigation, adjustments to habitat management area designations to reflect new information, reversing adaptive management responses
when the agency determines that resource
conditions no longer warrant those re-

sponses, allocation exception processes,
seasonal timing restrictions, and modifying
habitat objectives when best available
science is available. Plan clarifications
include modifying lek buffers, requirements for required design features, and
corrections relative to land health assessments and sage grouse habitat objectives.
BLM says it will accept public comments through Aug. 2, or 15 days after
the last public meeting is held, whichever
occurs last. Comments may be submitted
online through the agency website or by
mail to the BLM's field offices.
r

METHANE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FROM PAGE 31
The two groups urge BLM to modify
the strict venting limits to allow for
venting from gas wells under certain circumstances, including for operations and
safety concerns, and where compliance
would be unreasonably costly. While the
rule requires operators of gas wells to
flare rather than vent except for certain

circumstances, they point out, gas wells
generally lack flaring equipment. The
2016 rule didn't consider the costs of installing such equipment, meaning the
compliance estimates in both the final
and proposed rule are incorrect.
EPA's most recent methane emissions
data demonstrate that, despite a significant

production increase, emissions continue
to decline, including methane emissions
from venting and flaring, the Alliance
and IPAA say.
"In this respect, the fundamental premise on which the 2016 rule was based is
not accurate and warrants a reconsideration
of the rule," they argue.
r

COAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VOGA. . . . . . . . . . . . .

FROM PAGE 36

FROM PAGE 111

greater intrusion of forcing private actors
to make purchases against their will,"
which PJM would be forced to do if
FirstEnergy's petition was granted, the
industry group writes.
Finally, Section 104 of the Defense
Production Act specifically states that
nothing in the act may be "used to impose
price controls without prior authorization
by Congress."
Title III of the act allows the government to extend loans and loan guarantees
to reduce "shortfalls" of resources or materials "essential for the national defense."
Again, the industry group argues, "There
is no such shortfall."
Second, it goes on, Defense Production
Act loans must be appropriated by Congress, which it has not done. And if it
did, loans and loan guarantees can be extended only if the applicant can demonstrate a reasonable assurance that it can
repay the loan.
"The central argument of FirstEnergy's
application . . . is that coal-fired and
nuclear generators are retiring because
they lose money under current market
conditions," the industry group reiterates.
"There can be no basis to conclude that
loans to these generators come with a
'reasonable assurance of repayment.'"
As to its final argument, the industry
group says those suggesting DOI use
Section 215A do so on the premise that
the potential for a successful cyberattack
on natural gas operations makes the

electric grid vulnerable.
Beside the fact that the large number
of wells and storage fields leaves "few
single points of failure that can lead to a
systemwide, propagating failure," the industry group says Section 215A defines
a "grid security emergency" to include
cyberattacks directed at "electronic devices
or communications networks . . . essential
to the reliability of critical electric infrastructure," which is further defined as
electric transmission and generation, not
the natural gas supply chain.
But even if it did, the group says,
Section 215A provides only for emergency
measures lasting no more than 15 days,
rather than the four years of rate recovery
requested by FirstEnergy.
r

family barbecue. The general membership meeting will feature updates to the
association's bylaws, including allowing
electronic means of conducting business.
According to Stockner, the meeting
also allows her a chance to present the
updated website and electronic guide to
VOGA members, as well as her annual
report on the social media team's accomplishments.
Landon says while his two-year presidency officially ends at the annual meeting, he has told the association that he is
willing to serve another term. "I think
the feeling at the meeting will be that we
have to hold the line for a few more
years, and then there will be brighter
skies ahead," he assesses.
r

HAMM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FROM PAGE 116
because the Jones Act prevented shipping
it in U.S.-flagged vessels from liquefaction
facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast. He
praised the Texas Railroad Commission
for writing the Texas congressional delegation in March, asking Congress "to
look more closely at this outdated policy,"
and opined, "This might have a chance."
Also a possibility, Hamm went on, is
changing the Securities and Exchange
Commission's "five-year rule" which prohibits producers from booking more than
five years of proved, producing reserves.
Commenting on the continuous field de-

velopment in unconventional resource plays,
Hamm said, "Limiting PDPs to five years
makes no sense. It is a very antiquated
rule and there is a good chance it can be
changed, or at least get exemptions that
allow producers to book their full reserves."
Finally, Hamm decried foreign ownership of U.S. refineries, which has
reached 30 percent. The answer, he suggested, is a national security review by
the White House Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States. "We
have a team working on that as we
speak," he advised.
r
JUNE 2018 123

American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2018