American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 151

ConventionCoverage: Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association

Dwindling Time For Federal
Regulatory Changes
By Corinne Westeman
and Del Torkelson

WICHITA, KS.-The number of days
remaining in Barack Obama's presidency
was cited more than once during the
Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association's 2015 Annual Convention and Expo,
held Aug. 2-4 at Wichita's Hyatt Regency
and Century II Convention Center.
During a congressional panel on the
conference's second day, Congressman
Mike Pompeo, R-Ks., noted the next
president was scheduled to take office in
442 days.
But it is not only the president's critics
who are watching the sand drain out of
the Obama administration's hourglass,
counseled U.S. Representative Tim Huelskamp, R-Ks., who warned the administration was likely to consider its dwindling
days a rationale for expansive regulatory
initiatives.
And although congressional opponents
of those rule makings have a short menu
of options, the panelists noted, possibilities
include limiting or halting the money
regulators can use to implement them.
Along with Pompeo and Huelskamp, panelists were Representatives Kevin Yoder,
R-Ks., and Lynn Jenkins, R-Ks.

Sweet Spot Amendments
"The best way to use our legislative
authority is to defund rules the American
people oppose," Yoder advised. "Sept.
30 is the end of our fiscal year, so we are
going to (have) a big debate on priorities:
how we fund government, and the rules
and regulations we have the authority to
defund."
The House members cited their chamber's efforts to defund regulatory moves
such as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's
decision to classify the lesser prairie
chicken as a threatened species, and the
Environmental Protection Agency's efforts
to redefine "waters of the United States"
in a way that greatly expands areas subject
to the Clean Water Act.
Kansas' delegation has backed amendments that defund those initiatives, Jenkins
noted. She added that the House also had

approved similar WOTUS language in a
stand-alone bill. "We are trying to dualtrack this," she reported, adding, "Appropriations measures are good only for
a year, but we are trying every angle."
Yoder said, "The real trick is to find
the sweet spot where we accomplish
enough to make up some ground, but it
is not enough to prompt the president to
veto the entire bill."
Fortunately, he continued, such measures have not yet drawn significant opposition. He cited as an example how
amendments to delist the lesser prairie
chicken that were added to the National
Defense Authorization Act and the Department of Interior appropriations measure were approved on voice votes. "A lot
of the votes with strong opposing views
require roll call votes. They tend to be
fairly close and go down party lines,"
Yoder described. "The amendment in the
DOI funding and the NDAA authorization
went through the floor on voice votes.
Hopefully, that indicates there is not extremely strong opposition."

Exports, Highway Funding
With regard to other issues, Jenkins
indicated that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Oh., planned to bring to the floor
legislation to loosen the ban on U.S.
crude oil exports. "He is supportive,"
she described. "I think the House is going
to pass that."
KIOGA President Edward Cross, who

moderated the congressional panel, related
a conversation with Senator Richard
Durbin, D-Il., that indicated Durbin was
considering U.S. oil exports, but that the
senator wanted the oil and gas industry
to pay for the Highway Trust Fund. "I
responded by writing him that the royalties
from opening more federal areas to oil
and gas exploration could help," Cross
recounted.
Other lawmakers have eyed the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a source of
highway funding, KIOGA's panelists noted. According to Pompeo, Congress'
quest for revenue is apt to cloud many
members' judgement, even when the market is flush with crude already. He suggested the way some lawmakers would
determine how much SPR oil to sell was
to look at the amount of revenue they
sought and then "divide by the price."
"I am afraid it is going to become far
too easy for every committee to say it is
going to pay for something by selling a
little oil," Pompeo cautioned. "You should
know Congress thinks the bank is open."
According to Jenkins, legislators in
both the House and Senate have been
discussing a six-eight year transportation
plan that will fund highways by repatriating more U.S. citizens' income. "We
have the highest corporate tax rate in the
organized world; no one in his right mind
would bring that money home to pay 35
percent tax on it," she remarked. "(The
House Ways and Means Committee) is

Outgoing KIOGA Chairman Tim Scheck
(left), owner of Russell, Ks.-based
Scheck Oil Operations, congratulates
incoming KIOGA Chairman Nick Powell,
president of Mission, Ks.-based Colt
Energy Inc., on his new position after
the luncheon on the second day of
KIOGA's 2015 annual convention, held
Aug. 2-4 at Wichita's Hyatt Regency
and Century II Convention Center.

SEPTEMBER 2015 151

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