American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2018 - 126

ConventionSection: Petroleum Association of Wyoming
those issues at PAW's annual meeting,
Hinchey says, including:
* Dan Noble from the Wyoming Department of Revenue talking about discounted cash flows during the Tax Committee session;
* Representative Liz Cheney, R-Wy.,
reporting on legislative and regulatory
issues from Washington; and

* Susan Combs, with Holland & Hart,
discussing the energy industry moving at
the speed of crisis.
On Aug. 22, Hinchey says the association will hold a general committee session
in the morning, with Public Lands, Government Affairs, the Exploration and Production, and Tax and Legal committees
meeting. An afternoon golf tournament

will raise funds for PAW's political activities and the chairman's reception and
dinner will close out the day.
Committee meetings will fill the agenda
on Aug. 23 and Wyoming Governor Matt
Mead will speak at the luncheon, Hinchey
says. A board meeting takes place in the
afternoon, followed by an evening barbecue to conclude the event.
r

Wyoming Reviewing Water Standards
CASPER, WY.-Water disposal can
benefit Wyoming's oil and gas producing
community, with some ranchers holding
long-standing rights to use produced water
for their operations, notes John Robitaille,
vice president of the Petroleum Association
of Wyoming.
PAW has invited David Waterstreet,
program manager with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's
Water Quality Division, to speak about
produced water at the association's annual
meeting, Aug. 22-23.
"He will talk about the division's upcoming triennial review of surface water
quality standards, which has the potential
to affect a number of our more historic
wells that now are discharging tremendous
amounts of water. Some have been producing for 50 years or more," Robitaille
says. "We don't know what the division
may do to those discharges, so the association is watching that very closely."
According to the division, the federal
Clean Water Act requires states to review
surface water quality standards at least
every three years. Following the gathering of public input on possible changes
to the standards, the state's Water and
Waste Advisory Board will evaluate the
recommendations.
Robitaille points out PAW remains involved in that process, with a subcommittee
to work specifically on water issues. "Any
possible changes to the water standards
will affect a tremendous number of wells
in the state," he notes. "Those mostly are
historic wells. Individually, they don't
produce a lot of oil, but collectively they
produce a tremendous amount of water."
Many landowners in oil- and gas-producing counties depend on that produced
water for their operations, and sometimes
ask for more, Robitaille points out. As
PAW works with the water quality review,
the association will focus on protecting
both producers and ranchers.

Water is not the only resource issue
PAW is monitoring. For the past several
years, the association kept a close eye on
federal and state decisions regarding
species management, including the sage
grouse, notes PAW Chairman Paul Ulrich.
He adds that industry appreciates the new
tone set by the Trump administration regarding wildlife issues, and hopes those
positive initiatives will continue.
"State agencies have done a fantastic
job the past few years," praises Ulrich, director of government affairs for Denverbased Jonah Energy LLC in Denver. "I sit
on the Wyoming Sage Grouse Implementation Team, which has representatives
from most of the relevant state agencies.
Those people truly understand the issue,
understand the roadblocks we need to remove to protect sage grouse habitat while
not only continuing with the strong development program but also looking for new
opportunities to increase oil and gas production in noncore sage grouse habitat."
Working With Regulators
Oil and gas producers enjoy a good
working relationship with state regulators,
Robitaille assesses, with a positive giveand-take between industry and government
as regulations are developed.
Nancy Vehr, Wyoming's air quality administrator, has been invited to give an
update on state regulations at PAW's annual
meeting, he says. One topic likely to be
discussed is a minor source emissions guidance document now under consideration.
"We have been working on this particular guidance document for a little
more than a year," Robitaille describes.
"It lets operators start construction without
actually having a permit, as long as they
follow the presumptive requirements."
He notes discussion on the guidance
documents includes matching state requirements for using leak detection and
repair (LDAR) equipment with federal

126 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

standards, and writing a firmer definition
of what facility modifications would
trigger state rules. Robitaille says there
also is industry interest on the possible
impacts of nonattainment status for production in the Pinedale area.
Turning to the state's flaring status,
he reports the number of wells being
flared is down considerably this year, Indicating that only a few slightly exceed
the 60 Mcf a day limit that the Wyoming
Oil and Gas Commission requires supervisor approval to flare. Robitaille points
out that if drilling activity picks up
statewide, especially with Powder River
Basin developments expected in the near
future, connecting new wells to pipelines
may become a concern again.
Ulrich says the majority of Wyoming's
residents support the oil and gas sector.
"One thing we have done exceptionally
well over the past decade, through the
sage grouse implementation team, is bring
all voices to the table: conservation, sportsmen, business, agriculture, oil and gas,"
he says. "It was not an easy process, but
we all learned to listen and work together.
For the most part, that has helped us
realize a common goal, which is a balance
between conservation and development."
Esther Wagner, PAW's vice president
for public lands, says the association continues to monitor efforts to amend provisions in resource management plans used
by the Bureau of Land Management and
U.S. Forest Service to more closely align
them with state plans for the sage grouse.
She says PAW submitted comments on
the BLM's draft amendment recommending items that need to be revised in order
to bring the federal plan more fully into
alignment with its state counterpart.
PAW also is involved in an effort to
get BLM's policy on migratory birds to
be consistent with the December 2017
Department of Interior solicitor's opinion.
Wagner reports the opinion says that in-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2018

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