Petroleum Association of Wyo- ming president Bruce Hinchey is care- fully tracking the challenges facing oil and gas operators in the state on the national as well as local stage.

Activity has dipped, a new ad- ministration is in Washington, and Congress is focused on providing in- centives for the renewable portfolio.

State legislators are searching for new revenue streams to offset losses in sales taxes.

Hinchey said that he will focus in the impending session to continue to support and encourage oil and gas development in Wyoming by dem- onstrating that Wyoming hasn’t lost it’s potential. “We’re still a great en- vironment in which to do business,” he said. Hinchey works closely with legislators to ensure that tax incen- tives are not lost, infrastructure de- velopment is ready for the inevitable up tick and that wildlife challenges do not overtake common sense.

“This year the legislature is talk- ing about a possible increase in the severance tax and removing some of the sales tax incentives. Despite the downturn, the revenue committee is looking for any opportunity to raise taxes to meet budget demands. Now is not the time to raise taxes and re- move incentives for development.”

Infrastructure

PAW has worked with regula- tory agencies, UW and the Wyoming Pipeline Authority to proactively meet infrastructure needs, while fa- cilitating local governments efforts to meet industry needs.

“We have a number of great natural gas reservoirs in the state and with the new, and the new technology makes us very competitive with other regions of the country where gas may be much more expensive to develop and get to market.”

While natural gas has languished, oil is making slow but steady progress, and tertiary recovery efforts must go on. “We have some projects in devel- opment with an abundant supply of Co2. It’s imperative to move co2 to the older basins such as the Big Horn and to places like the Powder River Basin,” he noted.

Wildlife

The issues surrounding the ESA certainly have not abated, and PAW is active in providing the science neces- sary to forestall additional listings for species that are not warranted.

Through the first half of the year as permits trickled out of the Powder River Basin, Hinchey has continued to work with the Buffalo BLM to

resolve impediments to reaching the yearly goals of the office for 3000 per- mits whilst RMP revisions are on go- ing. “Yes, the demand has been down, that’s true, but it’s getting better,” he noted.

Legal issues

Hinchey is carefully monitoring an interim Judiciary committee bill that has wide ranging implications for operators and other small businesses. “This bill would allow any employee of a contractor to sue any company or individual contracting for the work should that employee be injured. This would affect anyone who uses a con- tractor,” said Hinchey. “This bill has implications for pipelines, construc- tion contractors or even individuals,” he said. “You could be sued for an ac- cident that is not directly related to you or your business.”