American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 137

ConventionCoverage: Western Energy Alliance

Alliance Fights On In D.C.,
Reaches Out At Home
By Dan Larson
Special Correspondent

BEAVER CREEK, CO.-As the Western Energy Alliance steels itself to face a
continuous flow of regulatory and policy
challenges from Washington, a wellfunded opposition appears reinvigorated
for the presidential campaign, the group's
leaders caution.
"The 2016 election will be a watershed," predicted outgoing Western Alliance Chairman Jack Ekstrom during
the group's 2015 annual convention, Aug.
12-13 at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Beaver
Creek. "Certainly it will be the most
crucial for the country in recent memory."
Ekstrom, vice president of corporate
and government affairs at Whiting Petroleum, described the industry's opponents as "limousine liberals and climate
change fanatics that drive adventuresome
overregulation and extremism by their
advocates in the government."
"We have been warning about this
regulatory drive during the final two
years of the Obama administration," said
Alliance President Tim Wigley. "We do
not expect the overreach to let up until a
few months before the election."
Ekstrom and Wigley's remarks emphasized the importance of a strong, wellconnected organization to represent the
interests of Western oil and natural gas
companies in Washington. The importance
of building alliances with lawmakers and

connections with local communities was
emphasized by Senator Cory Gardner,
R-Co., who spoke at the convention's
opening session.
"It is so vital that you continue reaching
out to communities and talking about the
possibilities of the shale revolution,"
Gardner advised. "The benefits of this
development are not just for the company
and its workers. All across town, businesses will grow and families will prosper."
Task Force Take-Aways
The convention included a three-member panel that provided insights into the
process and outcomes of the Colorado
governor's oil and gas task force that
met over six months and concluded in
February.
Commenting on a public opinion survey by the University of Colorado, panelist
Perry Pearce noted that nearly threefourths of respondents indicated dissatisfaction with the task force outcome.
"As a task force member, I find that disappointing," said Pearce, manager of state
government affairs for Conoco Phillips
Co.
"On the other hand, it has been my
experience that, whenever you produce
an order that nobody loves, you are being
fair to everybody. Some wanted more,
some less. The task force made a contribution that I can be proud of and I give it
a thumbs up."
Other panelists also were task force

Outgoing Western Energy Alliance Chairman
Jack Eckstrom (left), vice president of corporate and government affairs at Whiting Petroleum in Denver, passes the gavel to incoming
Alliance Chairman Javan "Jay" Ottoson, president and chief executive officer of SM Energy
Co. in Denver. During the convention, Ottoson
also moderated a panel discussion about the
oil and gas task force convened by Colorado
Governor John Hickenlooper.

The Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation
Commission is working to craft a rule
that covers "large-scale oil and gas facilities," within urban areas, relates
COGCC Director Matt Lepore. He went
on to indicate that a crucial aspect of
the rule would define the types of facilities
that fell under the regulation.

members, and moderating the discussion
was Javan "Jay" Ottoson, president and
chief executive officer of SM Energy
Co. Of the nine recommendations approved by the task force, seven were approved unanimously and two of those-
Recommendations 17 and 20-require rule
making by the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (AOGR, April
2015, pg. 44).
Recommendation 17 puts into place
"a process for operators to engage local
governments when they plan a largescale oil and gas facility within an urban
mitigation area," said Matt Lepore, director
of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation
Commission. "We have yet to define a
'large-scale oil and gas facility,' but we
have a working definition of urban mitigation area. The recommendation comes
with sideboards to help us get a rule in
place, but defining a large-scale oil and
gas facility will be a challenge.
"We have been consistent in saying
there is no single metric for the definition,"
he continued. "It is not the number of
wellheads or the number of tanks. Some
of the metrics can overlap, depending on
the facility. We also must address the
differences between a Piceance gas well
SEPTEMBER 2015 137

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