Fall agenda

This hasn't been a busy year for oil issues in Washington, D.C., and fall will be no different. The hottest issue for oil lobbyists continues to be the Minerals Management Service's pending royalty reform rule (OGJ, Aug. 10, 1998, p. 26). Oil state senators have blocked MMS from issuing the complex, controversial, and frequently revised regulation until the current fiscal year ends Sept. 30. They are working to extend that ban until Oct. 1, 1999, setting the stage for a tough lobbying

Aug. 31, 1998

3 min read

Patrick Crow
Washington, D.C.
[email protected]

This hasn't been a busy year for oil issues in Washington, D.C., and fall will be no different.

The hottest issue for oil lobbyists continues to be the Minerals Management Service's pending royalty reform rule (OGJ, Aug. 10, 1998, p. 26).

Oil state senators have blocked MMS from issuing the complex, controversial, and frequently revised regulation until the current fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

They are working to extend that ban until Oct. 1, 1999, setting the stage for a tough lobbying battle.

The rule has been an embarrassing fiasco so far, and MMS's only escape is to finalize the rule. Industry lobbyists are in the tough position of arguing against a bad rule while appearing not to be arguing against paying royalties.

Ohio's congressional delegation is planning hearings on the pending Amoco-BP megamerger. Those proceedings will be media events with little substance.

The complaint is not that the merger would restrain trade-it won't-but that Cleveland would lose jobs if BP personnel are transferred to Chicago.

In the agencies

Bill Richardson was sworn last month as Energy Secretary (OGJ, Aug. 24, 1998, Newsletter). Despite his title, he will have little effect on the oil and gas industries because DOE is really the Department of Nuclear Affairs.

The best thing Richardson could do for the industries, in his 27-month term, would be to complete the national energy strategy begun during Sec. Federico Pe?a's tenure (OGJ, Apr. 13, 1998, p. 30).

That won't give operators any real or immediate relief from low oil prices, but it might force the government-particularly the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency-to reexamine their mindsets.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has some interesting gas issues pending. It plans to coordinate its gas regulations with the realities of the maturing interstate marketplace, offering new approaches for spreading the benefits of greater competition. It also plans to streamline its own processes to mesh with the changes in its regulated industries.

Budding issues

Washington is showing more concern about how the Year 2000 computer glitch will affect the industry.

FERC, as the administration's lead agency on the energy implications, plans a Sept. 18 conference to seek ways for companies to share concerns and solutions.

Retail electric decontrol is dead for this session, but all sides are continuing to work the issue in preparation for the next Congress. Legislation must move early next session or not at all. If carried over to 2000, the presidential election year, it will be shelved again. The gas producing and transmission industries continue to worry if they'll get a fair shake under decontrol (see related story, this page).

The Nov. 2-13 conference on global warming in Buenos Aires could make or break the Clinton administration's hopes to get last year's Kyoto treaty confirmed by the Senate.

The administration has said developing nations must agree to cut their greenhouse gas emissions before it will seek Senate confirmation. But there has been no evidence that will happen.