“It is important to me for America to be energy independent, or at least strive towards that goal,” M. Stephen Dampier, a recent appointee to the federal Royalty Policy Committee told GPR.

“I think as T. Boone Pickens has said, we’ve had a massive transfer of wealth from this country overseas to buy foreign oil and I think we have to wean ourselves from that oil or hurt our standard of living,” he continued.

Dampier, an attorney at the Alabama law firm of Vickers, Riis, Murray & Curran, will advise ...