American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2019 - 108

ConventionCoverage: Texas Alliance of Energy Producers
by the courts are required, and must be
open to more participants than the affected
parties.
· Companies utilizing eminent domain
must pay landowners' attorneys' fees.
Further, Stevens noted, the legislation
applies to for-profit companies only.
"That is the world of eminent domain,"
he lamented, mentioning that although
SB 421 was expected to move to the
Senate floor in early April, it didn't appear
it had enough votes for passage.
County Roads
Among ideas for dealing with the impact of oil and gas development on county
roads, Stevens went on, two revolve
around a new "generate recurring oil
wealth for Texas (GROW Texas)" fund.
Representative Brooks Landgraf, ROdessa, has filed HB 2154, which would
move 12 percent of Texas' economic stabilization (rainy day) fund to GROW
Texas, while former Speaker Tom Craddick,
R-Midland, has filed HJR 82, proposing a
constitutional amendment to create the
GROW Texas fund and redirect 9 percent
of severance tax collections to it.
Stevens said HJR 82 was estimated
to raise $964 million for GROW Texas,
of which 40 percent would be directed
to transportation: state roads, county
roads, railroads, bridges, etc. Another
25 percent would go to education, he
detailed, 10 percent would go to the
Department of Public Safety for salaries
and equipment, 5 percent would be allocated to the courts, and the rest could
be used for various purposes.
"They want us to sign off on it, but I
don't think we are quite there yet," he remarked, adding, "The Alliance is supportive of a country road solution that is
ongoing and sends the monies where
they are needed."
Other attempts to provide additional
transportation monies, Stevens mentioned,
include a rider adding $500 million to
the next biennium budget and reintroduction of HB 42 by Representative James
White, R-Woodville, which would return
2 percent of severance taxes to the county
they were collected in for road and bridge
maintenance.
Other legislation supported by the Alliance, Stevens mentioned, includes SB
1311, which would extend the life of the
Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists
to 2025. He noted that the Texas Sunset
Commission had recommended eliminating
the certification entity for geologists.
HB 1558 would exempt idle wells re-

Climate has been a primary focus of the
116th U.S. Congress, but not in the way
the new Democratic majority had envisioned, Independent Petroleum Association of America Executive Vice President
Lee Fuller advises the Texas Alliance of
Energy Producers.

activated after two years from the severance tax for five years, instead of the
current 10-year exemption for idle wells
reactivated after three years. And Stevens
said the Alliance was backing the RRC's
$256 million budget request, which is
equal to its fiscal 2018-19 appropriation.
Included in the request is authorization
to hire 22 more oil and gas and pipeline
inspectors. "We think that is good because
it is good for us to have strong state regulation to push back against federal overreach," he said.
Congressional "Climate"
When the Democratic Party won a
majority in the U.S. House of Representatives last November, IPAA's Fuller observed, everyone expected a lot more
emphasis on climate change.
"We have, in fact, seen that, but not
quite the way the Democratic leadership
thought it was going to occur," he told
the Alliance.
He said the Democratic leadership
planned a deliberate series of hearings
that would give them ample opportunity
to criticize Republicans for past failures
to act. "But the agenda was stolen by
their left wing," Fuller stated.
The result was the Green New Deal,
which he described as an attempt to throw
federal dollars at virtually everything on
the liberal wish list under the patina of
dealing with climate. But when Republicans forced a floor vote in the Senate,
not a single Democrat was willing to
stand up for the Green New Deal, he

108 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

pointed out.
"So now the Democrats are going to
start trying to recapture their agenda and
move more slowly and cautiously," Fuller
surmised. "The question is: Given the speed
with which they jumped into this process
and the fact it has created such a furor and
level of anxiety among people who see
these huge dollars down the road, can the
process become more normalized so they
have a chance to do anything legislatively?
"The short answer is that it is unlikely
because Congress, as you have seen over
the past decade or so, is largely incapable
of taking legislative action," he answered.
Fuller noted that the Democrats' House
majority was not large. "If they lose their
liberal left, they aren't going to be able
to pass legislation. If they lose their newly
elected centrist group, they can't pass
legislation."
And in the Senate, he added, "You
have the same type balance you have had
for several years where no party has the
60 votes it takes to move legislation.
Without that, it pretty much stops."
There also has been a shift in the
Republican approach to climate change,
Fuller continued, away from not wanting
to do anything to looking for some
other position.
"Much of that activity is probably going
to be focused on doing more research on
such things as carbon capture and sequestration, and possibly on technologies, looking for some cost-effective steps they may
be able to take," he reasoned.
Fuller said IPAA's goal would be to
make sure natural gas was part of any
such initiative. He noted that the United
States was the only country to lower its
carbon dioxide emissions over the past
few years, and that largely resulted from
replacing coal with natural gas to generate
electricity. "That is a big, big point we
are pushing with Republicans in particular," he assured.
The other idea with appeal to both
parties is an infrastructure bill to improve
highways, other transportation systems,
water, etc. "But the dynamic with Democrats
is that anything on infrastructure has to
have a climate component," Fuller recounted.
"The question becomes: How big and comprehensive is that climate component?
"The more extreme it gets, the less
chance there is for any infrastructure bill,"
he allowed. "At this point, I would say it is
unlikely Congress can pass any infrastructure
legislation because of that tension within
the Democratic Party to do far more on
climate than they have in the past."
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2019

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