House Resources quizzes former chair on his new role at AOGCC
 Click here to go to the full PDF version of this issue, with any maps, photos or other artwork that appears in
some of the articles.
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed Tom McKay to the public seat on the three-member Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and McKay had a confirmation hearing March 9 before the House Resources Committee - a committee he chaired when he was a member of the Legislature.
McKay told the committee that when he arrived in Alaska in 1980, - a freshly minted petroleum engineer from Montana Tech,- his first project was drilling an oil well from the Bruce Platform in Cook Inlet for Amoco Production Co. He said he recalled applying to Chad Chatterton, then AOGCC chair, for the necessary permit to drill. McKay said he felt like he- d come circle, when, 46 years later, he was appointed to the commission.
McKay joined AOGCC in January. There are three commissioners: McKay in the public seat; Jessie Chmielowski in the petroleum engineer commissioner (appointed in 2019) and Greg Wilson in the geologist seat (appointed in 2022).
McKay said he- d worked in several jurisdictions - including Wyoming, Norway and Indonesia - and - experienced a multitude of oil field operations and regulatory structures,- and said his experience as an elected state official in Alaska, along with his industry experience, gives me a unique perspective to fulfill the public commissioner seat on the AOGCC.
Interests of the public McKay addressed a variety of questions from committee members.
In response to a question about representing interests of the public, versus those of industry, McKay said commissioners swear to uphold the Alaska constitution and the AOGCC- s statutes and regulations. Since joining the commission in January he said he has already taken positions - which have not made the industry happy.-
- Good engineering- is essential in industry operations, he said, and there were instances where industry practices need to be tightened up and said that process is underway at the commission.
Asked about the charge of the commission when it comes to the state- s resources, McKay said the commission- s role is to maximize recovery of oil and gas by ensuring use of best practices in well design and well placement and by preventing waste. It also ensures correlative rights - those of adjacent leaseholders - are protected.
And the commission is charged with preventing waste of the resource, he said, citing AOGCC prohibitions against the flaring of natural gas just for convenience.
KRISTEN NELSON
| 