American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2020 - 96

ConventionSection: Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia

IOGAWV Winter Meeting - Charleston, W.V.
Tuesday, Jan. 21
7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Registration Desk Open,
Marriott Town Center, Second Floor Foyer
8-9 a.m. Breakfast, Salons A-D
8-9 a.m. Producers Issues Breakfast, Cumberland/Appalachian
9-10 a.m. Technical Session, Salons A-D
Sponsored by Schlumberger Oilfield Services
10-11:30 a.m. Technical Session, Salons
A-D
Sponsored by Profire
Noon-1 p.m. Past Presidents/Gunslingers
Luncheon, Salons E-F
Noon- 1 p.m. Luncheon for Technical Session
Attendees, Third Floor Pavilion
"Enforcement of the WV811 Dig Law
Now Is In Effect," John Poffenbarger,
West Virginia Damage Prevention Board
1-3 p.m. West Virginia Desk and Derrick
Club, Kanawha/Blue Ridge
1-3 p.m. Afternoon Sessions, Salons A-D
"Marijuana in the Workplace," Toney
Stroud, Encova Insurance
"Workplace Drug Testing," Sandy Dingus,
Drug Testing Centers of America
"Mental Health Issues in the Workplace,"
Steven Cody, Clayman & Associates
PLLC
"The Road to Recovery," Pete Thackston,
USI Insurance Services
5:30-6:30 p.m. IOGAWV Membership Reception, Third Floor Pavilion

Wednesday, Jan. 22
8 a.m. Registration, A-D Foyer
8 a.m. Membership Breakfast, Foyer C-D
9-10 a.m. Morning Session, Ballroom
Welcome, Ben Sullivan, IOGAWV

tation control.
The 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline
will originate in West Virginia and run
through Virginia into North Carolina.
Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont
Natural Gas and Southern Company Gas
are developing the system.
The 4th Circuit Court ruled in Dec.
2018 that the U.S. Forest Service was
not authorized to grant the pipeline rights
to cross the Appalachian Trail and the
George Washington and Monongahela
national forests, the pipeline builders say.
In October the U.S Court of Appeals
agreed to hear the appeal.
"The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would be
a couple of hundred feet under the trail,
with the boreholes entering and exiting
on private property and never physically
96 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Al Schopp, Antero Resources (Invited)
Clay Carrell, Southwestern Energy (Invited)
IOGAWV Update, Kevin Ellis, IOGAWV
President
Governor Jim Justice (Invited)
10:15 a.m. Morning Coffee Break
10:35-Noon Morning Session, Ballroom
Maverick Bentley, Diversified Gas & Oil
Corp.
Frank Bakker, US Methanol
Break
Noon-2 p.m. Membership Luncheon, Ballroom
Presentation to Oil & Gas Museum
Oil & Gas Reclamation Awards
Innovation
"U.S. Natural Gas Market Update, Scott
Potter, RBN Energy
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick
Morrisey
Brian Anderson, NETL
Austin Caperton, West Virginia Department
of Environmental Protection
2 p.m. Pipeline Panel
Maribeth Anderson, Moderator, Antero
Resources; Jason Harshbarger, Dominion
Energy Transmission; Jim Crews, MPLX;
Shawn Tolle, Commercial East-U.S.
Pipeline, TransCanada
2:40 p.m. Charlotte Lane, West Virginia
Public Service Commission
3 p.m. Brian Dayton, West Virginia Chamber
of Commerce
3:20 p.m.Adjourn and Afternoon Coffee Break
5-6 p.m. GOpac Reception, Salons E-F
Admission by Donation Only
6-7:30 p.m. IOGAWV Membership and
Legislative Reception, Ballroom

touching the Appalachian trail, but because
it is a 'crossing,' it will have to be re-reviewed and approved," Burd describes.
Both projects are the instances in which
anti-development groups have used litigation against pipelines as a cudgel against
the industry, he indicates. "Those groups'
approach is very sophisticated: taking one
small step at a time, and holding up a
project," Burd says. "It was almost a year
ago, when Dominion was forced to shut
down construction on Atlantic Coast. It
basically told about 4,000 workers to go
home for what the company thought would
be only during the holidays. But it has
turned out to be a much longer delay."
Lawsuits against pipelines is a strategy
favored by natural gas opponents, Ellis
points out. He notes that their efforts in

some states have hurt consumers, such as
utilities being forced to curtail new natural
gas hookups for customers after state regulators blocked pipeline expansions.
"We predicted that simply saying 'no'
would result in hardships to ratepayers,"
Ellis says. "The ratepayers are the ones
who really suffer in the states that are
not allowing pipeline expansion projects
to go forward. The good news is, we see
a lot of opportunity here to continue promoting those projects, because we know
they can be done efficiently, safely and
in compliance with and exceeding regulatory standards for environmental compliance. We hope those projects are greenlit
very soon."
Winter Meeting
Lori Miller-Smith, IOGAWV's office
manager and event planner, says she anticipates a sizeable crowd at the winter
meeting.
"Even though it has been a slow year
for drilling, when times get hard, people
show up to our meetings to help figure
out what is next," she explains. "I have
been told plenty of times that things are
tough right now and so attendance is
going to be down. Every time I hear that,
we have a record crowd."
Burd agrees, saying while a lot of IOGAWV members are less than inspired
by the long-term futures price, operators
want to show up, because they cannot
find the information they get at an IOGAWV convention anywhere else.
One ongoing tradition is inviting local
energy students to the winter meeting,
and Miller-Smith says West Virginia University and Marietta College will be represented this year. In addition, IOGAWV
will invite a teacher who uses a pipeline
project as a learning aid in her STEM
(science, technology, engineering and
mathematics) lessons.
"She divides up her class. One student
will be the company's chief executive
officer, another will be the chief financial
officer. There will be a landman and a
pipeline engineer. The class plans on
how to build a pipeline through the
city," Miller-Smith explains. "She has a
contest, and IOGAWV sends oil and
gas people to serve as judges and to
pick the winning entry."
The association will recognize that
educational initiative at both the winter
meeting and its science teacher workshop
sessions and fire safety academy, MillerSmith says.
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2020

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