IOGCC/DOE oil and gas environmental workshop

The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) in cooperation with US Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a workshop format to allow state regulatory officials and industry representatives the opportunity to participate in frank and open discussions on issues of environmental regulatory compliance. The purpose of providing this forum is to assist both groups in identifying the key barriers to the economic recoverability of domestic oil and gas resources while adequately protecting human health and the environment. The IOGCC and DOE staff worked with key state and industry representatives to develop a list of appropriate regulatory and industry representatives to be invited to participate. These same industry and regulatory representatives also provided a prioritized list of topics to be discussed at this workshop. After the topic leader set out the issue, views of those present were solicited. In almost every case, both the industry representatives and the regulatory personnel spoke with candor in discussing the problems. Common points of discussion for each topic were: (1) conflicting state and federal regulations; (2) conflicting regulations or permit requirements established by different state agencies; (3) increasing compliance costs; and (4) regulatory constraints that will result in ``no net growth`` in California oil and gas production and more likely a net decrease. This report contains a copy of the written presentation for each topic as well as a summary of the participants discussion.