American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2018 - 83

ConventionSection: Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association
er muses. Companies typically choose to
operate in areas with supportive regulatory
and political environments, he says. Pennsylvania may be losing capital investments
to the Barnett Shale, Texas' Eagle Ford,
or Oklahoma's STACK play, because of
those uncertainties, he fears.
Pittsburgh Meeting
PIOGA's membership numbers reflect
the industry's comeback in Pennsylvania,

Slagel says. "We continue to add members
every month," he applauds. "PIOGA is a
long way from the numbers the association
was at three or four years ago, but getting
20 or 30 new members a year is certainly
better than none, or losing members."
Many member companies have weathered the industry's recession, and have
more money for association memberships,
Weaver notes.
"Maybe they saw value in PIOGA the

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Regulatory Overreach
Weaver says PIOGA continues to support legislative efforts to reduce regulatory
burdens on oil and gas activities. He
points to a report issued in January by
the legislature's State Government Committee. The analysis of regulatory overreach is accompanied by five pieces of
legislation under consideration in the
General Assembly:
* HB 1792, sponsored by House Majority Policy Committee Chairman Kerry
Benninghoff, R-Centre, would authorize
legislators to repeal state regulations by
concurrent resolution;
* HB 209, introduced by Representative Kirstin Phillips-Hill, R-York, would
establish an independent office of the repealer to review regulations;
* HB 1237, sponsored by Representative Dawn Keefer, R-York/Cumberland,
would require legislative approval for
regulations with an impact of $1 million
or more;
* HB 1959, introduced by Representative Greg Rothman, R-Cumberland,
would require state agencies to create an
online permit tracking system; and
* HB 1960, sponsored by Representative Brian Ellis, R-Butler, would require
agencies to appoint regulatory compliance
officers to educate the regulated community on new regulations.
"The regulatory overreach report
makes a lot of sense," Weaver applauds.
"There are a lot of regulations that have
not been vetted through proper channels,
and that is not right. Some agencies, if
they don't get regulations through proper
channels, will turn to the permit process
and other methods. All those need to be
looked at."
PIOGA also continues to monitor HB
1401, introduced by Representative Gene
DiGirolamo, R-Bensalem, Weaver says.
The bill proposes a tax on unconventional
gas production ranging from 2.0 to 3.5
cents an Mcf. Weaver notes that the proposal, which leaves the impact fee in
place, was the subject of intense debate
through the end of December and the
winter break, but now has fallen off the
legislative radar. At one point, HB 1401
had close to 500 amendments, but its last
iteration contained around 130 amendments,
he notes. The Senate in 2017 passed an
identical tax along with a number of regulatory reforms as part of the bill.
Plentiful resources are not the only
factor oil and gas operators consider
when making investment decisions, Weav-

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MARCH 2018 83

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2018

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