American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2020 - 61

ConventionSection: Illinois Oil & Gas Association

New Illinois Governor
Quiet On Energy
By Dan Larson
Special Correspondent
MT. VERNON, IL.-The anticipated
flood of new legislation aimed at stifling
Illinois' oil and gas industry in the aftermath of the 2018 election turned out to
be surprisingly modest, say leaders of
the Illinois Oil & Gas Association.
As it prepares for its 74th annual convention, IOGA's leadership cites its standing policies of assured but reactive lobbying, active participation in the regulatory
process, ongoing educational efforts and
support for pro-business legislators as
factors in its success at preventing any of
the obstructive bills that appear every
session from advancing in the Capitol.
"We continue to play good defense
like most oil and gas associations in other
states," says IOGA President Bryan Hood.
"We also are playing more offense with
our new political action committee and
our ongoing outreach to new legislators
from north of I-80."
Hood, president of Shakespeare Oil
Company in Salem, Il., says this year's
annual meeting is scheduled for March
3-5 at the Old National Events Plaza in
Evansville, In. It will feature presentations
highlighting legislative and regulatory issues plus an expanded landman's program
covering surface issues that will include
insights on securing leases with less than
100 percent mineral interest coverage.
"The landman's group, the Tri-State
Association of Professional Landmen,
has been working with its national affiliate,
the American Association of Professional
Landmen, to develop a two-hour program
that provides credit hours for those attending," says Hood
Following Democratic Governor J.B.
Pritzker's 2018 victory over incumbent Republican Bruce Rauner by a 54.5%-38.8%
margin and continued Democratic control
of both legislative chambers, the association
is on alert for a revival of efforts by
opposition groups to connect high-volume
hydraulic fracturing, among other issues,
with oil and gas production in Illinois,
IOGA Past President Craig Hedin says.
"With Democratic control of state government, I am surprised they have not

taken a stronger position against our industry or fossil fuels in general," he
muses. "For most of the year, the governor
was pretty quiet on energy, favoring renewables instead of going after oil and
gas. It may be because of all the new
people that he has brought into the administration."
Hood says the association takes care
to work with legislators and staff members
so they understand at least the basics of
oil development and production. The association hosted field tours for legislators
and staff during the year.
"New legislators hear nothing but neg-

ative news about our industry," notes
Sam Barbee, IOGA's executive vice president. "We want to bring them to us
rather than just walking the hallways of
the capitol. We are seeing early signs
that this approach is very effective in
getting out the facts about our industry."
Anti-Industry Bills
The Illinois 2020 legislative session
began Jan. 28. Hedin predicts bills aimed
at choking Illinois' oil and gas industry
are likely while legislators are at the
statehouse. Fortunately, he observes,
most of the expected anti-oil-and-gas

IOGA Annual Meeting - Evansville, In.
Tuesday, March 3
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Pre-Convention Workshop:
"Enhancing Your Illinois Basin Data and
Interpretation Skill Set"
Joan Crockett, Crockett Geological Consulting Services, Scott Elrick, Illinois
State Geolgical Survey, "ILSTRAT: Online Resource of Illinois Statigraphy for
Geologic Assessment and Permitting"
Melony Barrett, GIS Specialist, "Getting
the Most Out Of ILOIL: Becoming a
More Powerful, Informed User With
Queries, Layers, etc."
Robert Stewart, Stewart Producers, "Waterflood Design, Unitization, Implementation and Results: Why Some Floods
are Successful and Others Fail"
Jim Brooker, Brookston Resources, "Analog
to Digital: Digitized Spontaneous Potential
Logs: Tools for Reservoir Interpretation"
Scott Frailey, ISGS, "Analysis of Step
Rate Tests for Estimating Maximum Injection Pressure"
Dawn Monroe, Dawn Monroe Training
Noon-3 p.m. Exhibitor Large Equipment
Load In
3-6 p.m. IOGA Exhibitor Check In and
Setup
Wednesday, March 4
7:30 a.m. Registration Open
7:30 a.m. Exhibit Hall Open
Coffee and Doughnuts
9 a.m. Committee Meetings
Programs Committee
Finance Committee
Industry & Public Relations Committee
Membership Committee
IPRB/IOGA Joint Committee

10 a.m. IOGA Annual Membership, Board
of Directors and PAC Meetings
Featured Speakers: Seth Whitehead, IPRB
Report, Dan Reitz, Legislative Report,
Hannes Leetaru, ISGS Report, Dan Brennan, Office of Oil and Gas Resource
Management Report
11:30 a.m. Buffet Luncheon
1 p.m. Session I
Brad Aman, Continental Resources Inc.
"Illinois Basin and Williston Basin: An
Evolution in Completion and Stimulation
Techniques and How it Helped Change
the World"
2 p.m. Session II,
Breakout A, Shawn Bennett, U.S. Department of Energy
Breakout B, Dawn Monroe, Dawn Monroe
Training, "Excelapalooza Tips & Tricks"
3 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. Session III
Melony Barrett, ISGS, ILOIL; Scott Elrick,
ISGS, ILSTRAT
4:30 p.m. Awards Banquet Cocktail Reception
6-10 p.m. Awards Banquet & Oil Field
Services Auction
Thursday, March 5
8 a.m. Exhibit Hall Open
Breakfast Buffet
9:30 a.m. Vendor Giveaway Drawings
10 a.m. IOGA Legislative & Legal Session
Featured Speakers: Matthew B. Flanigan,
Black, Ballard, McDonald P.C.; Matthew
L. McArthy, McCarthy Law Office LLC;
Craig Hedin, Gessell's Pump Sales &
Service Inc.
11 a.m. Departure
FEBRUARY 2020 61

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