Tommy Taylor
PBPA Chairman
Another trip to Washington D.C. is in the books. Several Permian Basin Petroleum Association members, along with Ben Sheppard and Stephen Robertson, made the trek to D.C. back in early April. PBPA staff and our new federal consultant, Mr. Glenn LeMunyon, arranged for the group to meet with several members of Congress on Capitol Hill. Overall, I believe it was a worthwhile trip during which we shared our hopes for the future and our current concerns about the never-ending list of federal regulations that are challenging our industry.
Many of the federal regulations opposing our industry (a report from the Institute for Energy Research has tracked over 200 actions taken by the current administration against the oil and gas industry) are onerous and not well written, while others are just draconian and punitive. It appears that these changes are being pushed out of D.C. with the purpose of causing harm to the oil and gas industry. Imagine that! Oil and gas companies are spending an incredible amount of time, effort, and resources to comply with the flavor of the day regulations, and it doesn’t appear that the result of the new rules yields anything substantial, other than drive up costs and make operations more problematic and less certain. The PBPA has always taken the stance that we are not against regulations per se, but we need reasonable regulations, ones that make sense and are based on science and facts. I don’t have any doubt that we will all continue our efforts to be responsible operators and produce our products in a manner that meets the needs of our customers and achieves the requirements of the regulations we must all operate under. The PBPA group was able to reiterate this message as we went from office to office.
Thankfully, it seems the efforts of some “zealots” to change the American energy landscape to the land of all renewables, and green everything, is being met with a healthy dose of skepticism by the general public, which is good to see. I certainly don’t understand the rationale of picking one form of energy over another. We need more energy, not less. We are not in an energy transition; we are in an energy expansion that has been accelerating worldwide since the 1850s. Yet while the “green” energy movement (renewables) is being dictated to the American public, we are seeing a renewed interest in what our industry provides and hopefully an understanding of just how ridiculous the idea is of simply doing away with the fossil fuel industry. While renewables have seen tremendous growth in the last decade, growth in fossil fuel production actually exceeds growth in renewables during that same time period. In this energy expansion, replacing 102 million barrels per day of global energy usage is a task that is proving to be downright impossible. I am hopeful most people will see the absurdity in the efforts to simply do away with the world’s major source of energy and be realistic about needing all forms of energy to advance society.
All the Congress members are now aware of the Permian Basin province and the general size and location of this enormous resource. I recall a D.C. trip back 10 years ago when most Congressmen had no idea what the Permian Basin represented, much less where we were located. That has thankfully changed now that we are providing record levels of oil and gas production. Given that the Russia Ukraine war and the Palestine Israel conflict are ongoing, can you imagine the oil price shock we might well be suffering through? Yet, most don’t give it a second thought. The significance of the United States having 6.3 million barrels of production in the Permian Basin cannot be understated. Even if the average American doesn’t appreciate this strategic position, we certainly do, and it is our obligation to keep providing these energy resources to the market. Thank you for all that you do to keep our country moving forward and providing the energy supply that powers our tremendous economic engine.
