American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015 - 142

ConventionSection: Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners
With more than 100 sponsors in the Texas
House and a majority in the Senate supporting the measure, he says the resolution
makes a big statement about how important
the oil and gas industry is to the state of
Texas.
Lindsey Miller, government affairs
director for TIPRO, adds that while SCR
13 is just a resolution, TIPRO's hope is
that it will help Congress appreciate the
importance of lifting the export ban.
"With prices being where they are, now
is the appropriate time for the United
States to re-enter the global market," she
assesses. "With such an abundance of
domestic supply, it makes sense for this
country to utilize our resources, as opposed
to using other countries' oil."
Thanks to advances in technologies related to hydraulic fracturing and horizontal
drilling, the United States officially is the
world's largest oil and natural gas producer,
Longanecker adds. "With this abundance,
we now have the ability to fuel all of our
domestic energy needs while offering supply diversity and support to our allies
abroad. This is a new era for American
energy, but, nevertheless, outdated policies
from the 1970s are preventing our country
from fully capitalizing on the benefits of
increased domestic oil production."
While many political analysts argue
allowing oil exports could increase gasoline prices in the United States, Welder
asserts lifting the ban will have no negative
impacts on consumers.
Those free-market arguments also
apply to proposals to expand U.S. exports
of liquefied natural gas, he says.
"The Obama administration is taking
its time in approving these LNG export
facilities," Welder holds. "That has been
to the detriment of the one bright star of
the U.S. domestic economy: the natural
gas and oil industries. You would think
the administration would fast-track those
permits. I spent my life listening to the
hand-wringing and worrying over our
federal trade deficits, and suddenly the
United States is one of the lowest-cost
producers of natural gas on the planet.
We could secure Europe's domestic needs
and lower the price of natural gas for
many Asian buyers."
❒

Coming In August

Key lessons learned from operators' initial refracturing programs in
unconventional oil and gas plays.

Industry, Cities Work Together
On Texas' Local Control Rules

SAN ANTONIO-Texas has new legislation affirming state control over oil
and gas operations, and as the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners
Association points out, its language was
developed in the 2015 legislative session
through cooperation between both operators and local governments, including
the Texas Municipal League.
"Our biggest success as an industry
this session was the passage of HB 40,"
asserts Lindsey Miller, TIPRO's director
of government affairs. "The legislation
clarifies the state's jurisdiction over subsurface oil and gas operations, preventing
a patchwork of local regulations across
the state."
HB 40 was brought forth primarily in
response to the citywide ban on hydraulic
fracturing in Denton, Tx., she says.
"This is a property rights issue," Miller
says. "A ban that effectively denies
mineral owners access to their resources
is a taking. "It took the industry and
others coalescing around the same idea
to get this legislation passed. HB 40
strikes a careful balance by allowing municipalities to enact reasonable regulations
while preserving the ability for oil and
gas production in our state."
The legislation, sponsored by Representative Drew Darby, R-San Angelo,
affirms that in addition to the state's regulatory authority, local governments maintain all of their policing powers in areas
incidental to production, such as establishing limits on setbacks, noise and light,
and traffic and fire response. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill into
law on May 18.
TIPRO Chairman Raymond James
Welder III says the accomplishments of
association staff members who advocated
for HB 40 deserve praise and applause.
"They have proven once again that TIPRO
is the go-to group for the Austin public
policy community to understand where
the independent producer and royalty owner
stand on any particular issue," he says.
One source of strength for the association is its commitment to total transparency, including its willingness to admit
to the public and elected representatives
when there are disagreements among
TIPRO members, says Welder, president
of Welder Exploration & Production Inc.

142 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

in San Antonio.
"TIPRO is an organization filled with
independents and independent thinkers.
Candor, frankness and transparency are
welcomed in Austin. Consequently, the
public policymaking community and the
political leadership look to TIPRO quite
a bit," he says.
The willingness among Austin groups
to understand the complexity of HB 40
and to reach a consensus was remarkable,
Welder praises, adding his wish that Washington would take note of the interactions
and accomplishments. "While at times the
legislation did spark disagreements among
participants, those arguments were well
thought out and led to improvements in
the language," he states, adding, "I was
very impressed with the thoughtfulness,
the consideration and the seriousness that
people gave to the issue."
HB 40 could be a model for other
states seeking to affirm the state-local
government balance on protecting private
property and ownership rights versus municipal control, Welder says. Other states
should see Texas as providing a thoughtful
and considerate example of how to deal
with those competing rights, he holds.
Servando Esparza, TIPRO's manager
of government affairs, reports when HB
40 was heard in the House Energy Resources Committee, officials from several
Texas cities as well as the Texas Municipal
League expressed discomfort with the
bill. Legislators then addressed many of
those concerns in the committee substitute
for the bill, using language provided by
local governments, the municipal league,
and the oil and gas industry.
According to Esparza, both Darby and
Senator Troy Fraser, R-Belton, who sponsored the Senate companion bill, SB 1165,
were key to passing the legislation.
TIPRO President Ed Longanecker
says, "The final version of HB 40 is
good public policy, which was evident
by the level of support the bill received
in the House and Senate."

State Budget
Despite the downturn in oil and gas
market prices, the Texas budget picture
remains bright, Miller reports, with the
Lone Star State having money in the
bank to pay for its 2016-17 appropriation

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015

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