The past several years have seen tremendous growth in the Gas Processors Association (GPA) as it has broadened its mission to focus on the entire midstream, most notably as an industry advocate. GPA has sought to become both more proactive as well as expansive in its advocacy work as it is involved in working on the state, regional, and federal levels.
“We’ve organized ourselves to be more inclusive. At the last annual legislative meeting, we agreed to meet every two weeks with lobbyists for GPA companies in several states as well as get reports from those states on a regular basis,” said Steve Johnson, vice chairman of the GPA Legislative Committee and director of Government Affairs at ONEOK.
The association focuses on nine states that represent the core of the oil and gas industries: Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and North Dakota. This focus is likely to grow in the future to include other shale producer states such as Arkansas, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia that are experiencing midstream growth.
Evan Hanson, director of the GPA Legislative Committee and director of State Government Affairs at Williams, said this work is divided by requesting that GPA member companies that are active in these nine states to act as a state coordinator. “The intent is for state coordinator to work with the other member companies to cooperatively work out issues within those states when they occur and then report on the progress and status during our bi-weekly calls.”
Hanson added that two of the biggest issues the committee has been working on include eminent domain and air quality in several states. The eminent domain issue is obviously a very important tool for pipeline operators to have the ability to use due to the significant costs involved in rerouting a project.
“In Texas, the courts have ruled that if you’re not a common carrier, you don’t have the benefit of eminent domain. That’s an obvious concern to the midstream industry because it puts a bind in the permitting process to build pipelines for gathering facilities,” Hanson said.
The coordinated efforts by the GPA Legislative Committee enables discussion of similar issues and the exchange of data, and therefore better use knowledge and experiences on issues across the country. This coordination also helps GPA have a unified voice when it comes to midstream concerns in state and federal legislative issues.
“It is so valuable for us to be able to have a common unified voice. These legislative bodies and regulatory agencies aren’t just hearing different companies, but 120-member companies linked together. When we speak in conjunction with other associations, it really conveys a strong message,” Hanson said.
The ability to use the expertise of its membership allowed GPA to help to shape the update of the Pennsylvania oil and gas act this past year. The update, called Act 13, was the first major update of the state’s oil and gas act in 30 years.
“GPA worked with the Marcellus Shale Coalition on that effort because although much of the regulations would impact our segment of the industry, the largest impact will be on producers. So we wanted to work with all the parties rather than just as GPA for this act,” Hanson said.
Education is a key component in working with politicians and regulators, Johnson said. This is particularly true in the case of regions where the oil and gas industry hasn’t been very active.
“We’ve got to get there far ahead because folks in some of the big shale plays aren’t as familiar with the industry. So education ahead of time is extremely important,” Johnson said.
“You’ve got to have relationships with these people so they can better understand what we do. I compare it to the people who think milk comes from the grocery store, not understanding or appreciating all it takes to get that gallon of milk to the store. The same is true for natural gas,” Hanson said.
Contact the author, Frank Nieto, at fnieto@hartenergy.com.