AOGCC public member bill on the shelf?

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

It doesn’t look likely that requirements for the public member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will be changed by the Legislature this year.

House Bill 300, requiring the public member of the three-member commission to have a fundamental working knowledge of the oil and gas industry, was heard and held by the Senate State Affairs Committee April 20 and had not yet resurfaced May 3.

State Affairs Committee Chair Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, said that before moving the bill he wanted to look at why the current statute says the public member “need not be certified, trained, or experienced in either the field of petroleum engineering or the field of petroleum geology.” One member is required by statute to be a petroleum engineer and one a geologist with oil and gas experience — both those requirements have been tweaked in recent years, with generic engineering and geology having become oil and gas industry specific.

HB 300 was introduced last May by Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla, chairman of the House Special Committee on Oil and Gas, and originally required that the public member be an attorney, have a degree in business management or have substantial business management experience. The committee substitute which passed the House in March required only “training or experience that gives the person a fundamental understanding of the oil and gas industry in the state.”

Kohring told State Affairs that the administration was not supportive of the original bill, and that is why it is now more generic. He said the original proposal was an effort to get something in writing, and said he thought the requirement would likely change as the bill was heard. In hindsight, he said, he would probably have worded the requirement differently and put in something related to the oil and gas industry.

Complexity of industry the issue

John Norman, chairman of the commission, speaking in support of the bill, told the committee the commission regulates an increasingly complex oil and gas industry.

Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, said the work of the commissioners sounded similar to what legislators do, and noted that legislators don’t have special skills. The current requirement for the public seat would allow the governor to bring someone “from outside the box,” he said, and noted that the commission has a staff with expertise who could work with a commissioner much as legislators work with staff on complex issues.

Norman agreed that there is a comparison with legislators, but legislators, he said, necessarily have to be generalists because they deal with a wide range of issues, while the commission is a very specialized agency that handles a large number of permits, applications and orders.

There really is not time for on-the-job training, Norman said. A commissioner has to be able to hold their own in deliberations with the other commissioners. That’s how decisions are made, he said.

Norman also said that knowledge or experience does not mean alignment with the interests of the oil industry. Some commissioners, he said, have come from the oil and gas section in the Attorney General’s office, and noted that his own experience as an attorney includes representing a range of interests on the opposing side of the table from the oil and gas industry.

Sen. Tom Wagoner, R-Kenai, asked if the person with the least knowledge doesn’t sometimes ask the best questions. He said with the commission’s professional staff he thought someone with experience making decisions and analyzing data from staff might be more effective.

Norman said the commissioners do get recommendations from staff, but said if one of the commissioners lacks background that individual is going to be handicapped when it comes to asking questions. He said there isn’t a day when he doesn’t ask a lot of questions, but noted he has training as a geologist and in oil and gas law and has worked in areas related to the industry for 40 years. But there is no time to slow down for basic questions, he said.

Norman also said the commissioners participate on national committees where Alaska’s view has to be presented on a very technical level.

Both Norman and Kohring said there was no intent to criticize any former members of the commission, but to try to make it better. Norman also said that the bill’s requirement of “training or experience that gives the person a fundamental understanding of the oil and gas industry in the state” is basically a tweaking of the requirements, not an establishment of “tight sideboards.”

Therriault noted that the Legislature must confirm appointments to the commission, which gives legislators an opportunity to question qualifications.

He said he would hold the bill and have his staff work with Kohring on the history of statutory requirements for the commission.