New Mexico State Lands clearly understands that to be good stewards of the assets entrusted to them, they must take decisive action to ensure their reporters have the resources and opportunities necessary to improve their reporting. They are diligently working to protect the State’s revenue entrusted to their care. In 2023, New Mexico State Trust lands collected approximately $2.6 billion from oil and gas sources. These monies were put to work for the State by providing funding for education and other public institutions. Other oil and gas related agencies should take a cue from New Mexico State Lands. In today’s active merger and acquisition environment coupled with the retirement of so many experienced professionals, there is a dearth of education and experience in the industry. Continuing the past practices of punitive interest and penalty assessments and increasing audit activity does nothing to solve the problem. Agencies, in this writers opinion, it is time to do something that strikes at the root of the issue. To do otherwise
would simply indicate your management style to be as the old saying goes “the beatings will continue until morale improves”.
The Author:
Steve Bailey
Steve Bailey is the Vice President and COO for Savvy Oil and Gas Consulting based in Houston, TX. Steve began his career in Upstream Accounting for oil and gas in 1985. His career experi-
ences touched many areas of accounting as well as the systems used by his employers. The vast majority of his career centered around Compliance Accounting. Steve retired from BP America Production Company in 2020 and today he provides Savvy’s clients with expert assis- tance in all areas of US onshore compliance in severance taxes and sovereign royalties.
USEPA Approves West Virginia’s Request for Primacy Regarding Issuance of Class VI Injection Well Permits
I through Class V wells. Class VI UIC wells are authorized for the injection and sequestration of carbon dioxide for the purpose of permanent geologic storage, and West Virginia’s rules are largely modeled after USEPA’s existing Class VI UIC well rules. West Virginia will now be just the fourth state, along with North Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana, to receive primacy over the Class VI UIC permitting program. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act allocating potentially significant investments in the states to promote the use of hydrogen as a source of energy and the continued push to control the emission of greenhouse gases, the ability of the states to issue these permits and bypass what is often a significantly more time-consuming permitting and authorization process by USEPA is crucial to potential future development and investment in these hydrogen energy projects, which utilize natural gas to generate hydrogen and require carbon capture and sequestration to control greenhouse gas emissions, and for existing power-
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has approved West Virginia’s application to obtain authorization and primacy regarding the issuance of permits for Class VI underground injection control (UIC) wells. This follows USEPA’s initial filing of its intent to approve West Virginia’s request for program primacy and the agency’s accepting public comment and holding a public hearing, which can be found here. UIC wells are regulated pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Similar to the federal Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, the SDWA contains provisions that allow the states to request authorization to operate the permitting program under the act. Prior to gaining approval of a request by an individual state to become the primary agency to enforce and operate the permitting program, the state must adopt rules and regulations that are as stringent as its federal counterparts to address the permitting of these wells. West Virginia already maintained authorization to permit UIC for Class
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N at i onal A ssociation of D i v i s i on O rder A nalys t s
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