American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2018 - 118

ConventionSection: Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association
The genesis of the issue dates to 2015,
White says, when the Kansas Legislature
eliminated the state's mortgage registration
tax. The subsequent loss of revenue for
county register of deeds offices prompted
a three-year step up in recording fees
from what White calls "a pretty reasonable
amount" to $21 for the first page and $17
for each additional page today. "The predictable fee idea wants to raise it to $75
for a flat number of pages," he reveals.
Although there has been no formal
proposal made yet, Cross adds there also
is discussion of requiring all documents
be filed using 10-point type, which he
worries "will require a wholesale revision
of the forms most commonly used in the
oil and gas industry."
Increasing filing fees requires legislative
approval, and both White and Cross promise KIOGA will be ready to oppose a
hike of that magnitude, terming it "a high
priority."
Annual Meeting
Updates on these and other issues facing the association will be provided at
the open Board of Directors and general
membership meeting from 2 to 4 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 12, which will commence
KIOGA's 2018 annual convention in Wichita's Century II Convention Center.
The convention keynoters, Cross reports, are author Charlie Kirk, founder
and president of Turning Point USA, at
breakfast, Monday, Aug. 13, and Dave
Trabert, president of the Kansas Policy
Institute at Monday's lunch.
Cross says Kirk will lay out the principles behind his book, Time for a Turning
Point: Setting a Course toward Free Markets and Limited Government for Future
Generations, which is focused on selling
the ideas of free enterprise and limited
government to the next generation. Noting
that Kirk is 24 years old, Cross remarks,
"It is better to hear about how to com-

municate with Millennials from a speaker
who is a Millennial himself, rather than
one of us gray hairs trying to say what
we think they should do."
KPI President Trabert is, himself, lead
author of What was Really the Matter
with the Kansas Tax Plan, and will discuss
"the mistakes made, the toxic political environment and other factors-such as falling
oil prices"-that contributed to the failure
of the 2012 income tax cuts engineered
by then Governor Sam Brownback.
"Hopefully, the lessons learned will
pave the way for Kansas and other states
to reduce taxes going forward," Trabert
expresses."
The panel discussion on abandoned
wells is one of two breakout sessions
scheduled for Monday afternoon. In the
other, Martin Dubois, founder of Improved
Hydrocarbon Recovery LLC, will present
an overview of carbon dioxide enhanced
oil recovery in Kansas, and discuss how
the expanded carbon-capture tax credit
approved by Congress in February may

KIOGA Strives To Respond To
Rising Electric, Gathering Rates
WICHITA, KS.-Two critical industry
operating cost components are gathering
fees for natural gas and electric rates
for crude oil wells, and Kansas producers
have been experiencing increases in
both areas.
"We do not have great geographical
competition among gathering systems in
Kansas," observes Kansas Independent
Oil & Gas Association Chairman Kenneth
White, president of White Exploration in
Wichita. "In most areas, you may have
only one gathering system."
So when a pipeline company raises
its rates, marginal well operators, espe-

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Cross says Monday's two morning breakout sessions feature KIOGA's annual "View
from Capitol Hill" with members of Kansas'
congressional delegation, and a talk on the
future of unmanned aerial systems in Kansas
by Bob Brock, director of the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Cross says the extended session called
by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will prevent Kansas' two
senators from participating in KIOGA's
annual panel on federal energy challenges,
but he says he has commitments from
1st District Congressman Roger Marshall,
2nd District Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins
and 4th District Congressman Ron Estes.
He says Brock will offer an overview
of how drones may be used in the oil and
gas industry, ranging from inspecting
pipelines to counting lesser prairie chickens, as well as "potential return on investment for companies interested in
using unmanned aerial systems."
r

E: valenergy1982@yahoo.com

118 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

cially, can do little but complain, reflects
KIOGA Natural Gas Chairman Steve
Dillard, who confirms several recent gathering rate increases, including one that
went up 22 percent effective July 1.
Unfortunately, he allows, there is little
KIOGA can do about it other than offer
advice and moral support. While the
Kansas Corporation Commission offers
a complaint process to which aggrieved
producers can turn, Dillard says the association itself does not have standing
and only the people affected can file a
complaint.
"The Natural Gas Committee has been
acting as an information exchange among
impacted parties," he reports. "We are
willing to help and facilitate. Some of us
who have been through the (complaint)
process can provide information to those
who haven't about what is required and
what to expect."
White notes that individual producers
have filed complaints in the past, "but
they never have gone all the way through
to an evidentiary hearing," he relates.
"Usually, whoever brings the complaint
ends settling with the gathering
system/pipeline prior to a hearing and
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