American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015 - 149

ConventionCoverage: Virginia Oil & Gas Association
dustry or its leaders were not involved in
politics, "you are losing." Participating
in the pro-business community and the
legislature, he described, serves two goals:
* Ensuring Virginia passes more probusiness laws, or at least fewer anti-business measures; and
* Promoting a positive image of one's
business or industry.
"People want to know what you do
for a living," he remarked. "If legislators
don't know what your industry does,
they are more inclined to think growing
a business is a bad thing."
Saxman said Virginia FREE was a
coalition of many industries that united
on anything that could negatively affect
any of its members. However, members
"don't get to pick and choose which industries they help, or which issues they
fight, because they have to join with
everyone," he described. "The business
community has to link arms."
He did caution VOGA against slipping
into the mindset that politics were a transactional relationship, saying that if they
were, that would lead to corruption. Instead, political relationships need to be
founded in communication and understanding on both sides, he clarified.
"Everyone is calling their political leaders

Chris Saxman, executive director of Virginia FREE, encourages VOGA to be
more active in local governments and
the state legislature. While speaking at
the association's annual conference,
June 24-26 at Virginia Beach's Hilton
Garden Inn Oceanfront, Saxman said
the oil and gas industry must redirect
its messaging in politics and work alongside the pro-business community.

. . . so why aren't you?" he asked. "Are
they listening to you or to someone opposed to you? Do your state representatives
know you?"
When he was a state legislator, Saxman
recounted, he would be stopped by constituents even during his early morning
workouts at his gym. "I wanted to have a
quiet workout, but I appreciated people
talking with me because that is how I
learned," he explained. "You can't expect
your politicians to know everything."
Virginian politics are especially important, he emphasized, because "it's so
close to Washington, and (federal lawmakers) watch us religiously."
"It's easy to get distracted in politics,"
he reflected. "But, we really have to
focus because Washington considers Virginia's politics to be the pulse of America.
And if (Congress) takes it seriously, so
should we."
Saxman concluded by reiterating that
VOGA should "make sure its message is
right and is being communicated effectively,
and that it is building relationships in both
the political and business communities."
Energy, Economics & Politics
During the VOGA Awards Banquet,
keynote speaker, state Senator Frank
Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, affirmed that
the American public needed the oil and
gas industry, even if it didn't think it did.
"Virginia pays the lowest energy rates
of any Mid-Atlantic state," he remarked.
"That is because we have strong gas and
coal industries."
Wagner said that while there was a
role for renewable resources, oil, gas and
coal were providing most of the nation's
energy, and that changing that makeup
too drastically or too quickly could prove
uncomfortable, expensive, or even hazardous for America at large.
"We need to ensure there is enough
power for everyone to get it inexpensively," he held. "I always have recommended a one-third coal, one-third gas,
and one-third 'other' breakdown among
our energy sources.
"If you look at other countries, there
is a direct correlation between (fossil
fuel) energy use and economic strength,"
Wagner continued. "Your industry has
provided Americans with the opportunity
to buy American energy extracted by
American workers. So, politicians and
the public should not say they are projobs while being anti-industry."
Wagner also commented on the At-

lantic Coast's record one-day energy use
last winter, positing that a lack of proper
infrastructure could have led to "horrible
'what-if' scenarios." Whereas, once the
region included the planned Atlantic
Coast Pipeline, that will be a best-case
scenario, he described.
"Our ports and transportation network
are driving the state's economy already,"
he noted. "If the energy industry can
take even more advantage of that, the
market would be virtually limitless, and
so would the benefits to Virginia."

Appalachian Similarities
In another presentation, Erica Clayton
Wright, vice president of communications
and membership for the Marcellus Shale
Coalition, offered VOGA members advice
on how to approach challenges to maintaining a competitive business environment
and economic playing field.
Clayton Wright remarked that there
were several similarities between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and that MSC had
had some success facing challenges in
Pennsylvania comparable to VOGA's.
"Our states have a lot in common," she
suggested. "We both have Democratic
governors; our general assemblies have
similar makeups; and both have similar
geographic/cultural/political distribution,
where our more liberal bases are on the
east side of the state and conservatives
are more west."
After she outlined the challenges both

Erica Clayton Wright of the Marcellus
Shale Coalition remarks on the similarities between Virginia and Pennsylvania,
such as their Democratic governors and
general geopolitical distribution. She
told meeting attendees both VOGA and
the MSC had to build infrastructure and
develop new markets.

AUGUST 2015 149

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015