American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016 - 100

Anti-Oil-and-Natural Gas Agendas." Panelists are Russ Capper with The Energy
Makers Show; Ken Cho, co-founder of
People Patterns; and James Hahn, founder
and CEO of Tribe Rocket Inc.
The panel and other events will help
TIPRO members continue to push back
against false information, unnecessary
federal regulations, and other policy maneuvers designed to hobble operators,
including moves by the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service to expand the number
of endangered species, a development
that usually follows lawsuits from environmental groups, Gilmer observes.
"Industry opponents engage in gaming
the system, and it's unfathomable that so
many in the federal government seem
dedicated to dismembering this American
industry," Gilmer marvels. "I am not sure
the voting public realizes how radicalized
the environmental movement has become
in the last decade. I cannot imagine that
there will not be a big response to that as
we work to improve public awareness of
these things."
TIPRO says its conference also will
feature a panel scheduled for 11 a.m.
Thursday that explores "The Future of
Water and Waste." Panelists are Doug
Bailey, vice president of Quail Run Services LLC; Blake Scott, president of Scott
Environment Services; and Anastasia
Valdes, CEO of Water Markets Inc.
The luncheon to follow features a
keynote address by Jody Elliott, president
of domestic oil and gas at Occidental Petroleum, Longanecker says.
TIPRO's agenda for the afternoon includes a panel discussion at 2 p.m., which
will explore how to "Pay Your Fair Share
(and No More) of Property Taxes." Participants are Mark Andrews, president of
KE Andrews; Jonathan M. Hyman, shareholder in Gray Reed & McGraw PC; and
David Leonard, an associate in Gray
Reed & McGraw.
Political Forecasting
Harold Cook and Ted Delisi, political
analysts on the Time Warner Cable News
program Capital Tonight Show, will provide a state and national political outlook
at 2:45 p.m., Gilmer says. Together, Cook
and Delisi will provide insights during a
time of instability around party platforms
that make this election year especially
challenging.
During the state Democratic Party deliberations in June, platform language
was scrapped calling for a ban on hydraulic
fracturing, press reports indicate, only
later to be amended with a phrase calling
for an end to the "ecologically destructive
extraction method known as fracking."
"How do you have a party go so far off

the reservation as to support that?" Gilmer
poses. "TIPRO always has been a bipartisan
organization and will remain so. We have
a lot of dark-blue members and are happy
to support Democrats who take a rational
approach to energy independence."
This election year is expected to bring
new faces to the Texas Legislature, reinforcing the need for members to focus
on pertinent political issues, Longanecker
relates. Thus far, 22 members of the
Texas House and two members of the
Texas Senate will not return, he notes.
On Thursday afternoon, TIPRO's summer conference also will feature U.S.
Congressman Michael McCaul, R-Tx.,
chairman of the House Committee on
Homeland Security, who will be joined
by Texas State Representative Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, chairman of the
Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, for
a legislative and federal update, Longanecker continues.
Changing sentiments make it imperative for TIPRO members to learn more
about how to stay engaged on both federal
and state fronts, Gilmer maintains.
"As anyone who has been involved in

the process can attest, more legislation is
being introduced or amended with
'gotchas,'" he assesses. "These days, the
most innocent-seeming thing is designed
as a time bomb to blow the legs off any
particular industry. This is not the kind of
politics that people grew up with. These
types of changes have required our team
to get smarter and more legally sophisticated,
and to examine in detail all the consequences
of these things. We are seeing more things
that are fairly diabolical, not merely innocent
differences of opinion."
On Thursday evening, the chairman's
dinner and casino night kicks off at 6 p.m.
The association will take time to honor
outgoing Chairman Raymond James Welder
III, and will present the 2016 Mr. TIPRO
Award to a member for outstanding service
to the association and the Texas oil and
gas industry.
"I am happy we have organizations
such as TIPRO to keep an eye out for
these things every day," Gilmer praises.
"These are tough times for everybody in
the industry, but that means it's more important than ever for people to become
active and support the association." ❒

EPA Renewable Fuel Standard
Plan Draws Industry Protests
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must do more
to ensure Americans have access to fuels
they want and can safely use in their vehicles until Congress fixes the outdated and
broken Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)
program, the American Petroleum Institute
says following the release of EPA's proposal
for the 2017 RFS mandates.
The program requires EPA to set volume requirements for cellulosic biofuel,
biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel,
and total renewable fuel. Under EPA's
proposed increases, total renewable fuel
volumes would increase by nearly 700
million gallons between 2016 and 2017,
with advanced renewable fuel growing
by nearly 400 million gallons. The "conventional" fuels portion of the RPS portfolio would increase by 300 million gallons, and achieve 99 percent of the congressional target of 15 billion gallons.
EPA also wants to boost biomassbased biodiesel by 100 million gallons
between 2017 and 2018, and cellulosic
biofuels by 82 million gallons between
2016 and 2017.
Frank Macchiarola, API's downstream
group director, says consumers' interests
should come before ethanol interests.
"EPA is pushing consumers to use

100 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

high ethanol blends they don't want, and
that are not compatible with most cars
on the road today," he says. "The administration is potentially putting the safety
of American consumers, their vehicles
and our economy at risk."
According to Macchiarola, higher ethanol
blends could damage engines and fuel systems, potentially forcing drivers to pay for
costly repairs. He cites Congressional
Budget Office projections that gasoline
prices could increase by 26 cents a gallon
unless EPA lowers its RFS mandates.
"EPA's proposal makes abundantly
clear that the only solution is for Congress
to repeal or significantly reform the RFS,"
Macchiarola says.
American Energy Alliance President
Thomas Pyle says the RFS program is
based on false assumptions, and is not
the success story that EPA officials claim
it is. "Rather, it is a lesson on why the
federal government should get out of the
energy business, and let the markets work
the way they are supposed to."
EPA is holding a comment period on
the proposal until July 11. For information,
visit http://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuelstandard-program/proposed-renewablefuel-standards-2017-and-biomass-baseddiesel.
❒

http://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/proposed-renewable-fuel-standards-2017-and-biomass-based-diesel http://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/proposed-renewable-fuel-standards-2017-and-biomass-based-diesel http://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/proposed-renewable-fuel-standards-2017-and-biomass-based-diesel http://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/proposed-renewable-fuel-standards-2017-and-biomass-based-diesel

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016

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