Difference between revisions of "Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission"

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Thereafter, Baker “launched an independent consultancy – Corporate Consulting, Inc. – specializing in strategic communication planning and implementation for high profile clients,” reads his biography up on the Aspen Institute website. “In addition, he specialized in crisis communication management [and] Baker continues to provide these services for select clients.”<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798197-Gerry-Baker-Aspen-Bio-Corporate-Consulting-Inc.html Gerry Baker Biography]</ref>
 
Thereafter, Baker “launched an independent consultancy – Corporate Consulting, Inc. – specializing in strategic communication planning and implementation for high profile clients,” reads his biography up on the Aspen Institute website. “In addition, he specialized in crisis communication management [and] Baker continues to provide these services for select clients.”<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798197-Gerry-Baker-Aspen-Bio-Corporate-Consulting-Inc.html Gerry Baker Biography]</ref>
  
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At the 1998 IOGCC annual meeting, Baker – while with Corporate Consulting, Inc. – gave a media training seminar.<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798415-Gerry-Baker-1998-IOGCC-Media-Training-Seminar.html IOGCC 1998 Annual Meeting], Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission</ref> Corporate Consulting, Inc. was incorporated in Oklahoma in 1991<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798206-Gerry-Baker-Incorporation-Form.html Oklahoma Department of State Incorporation Form: Corporate Consulting, Inc.]</ref> and got its most recent Certificate of Good Standing in July 2015.<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798208-Gerry-Baker-Cert-of-Good-Standing.html Oklahoma Department of State Certificate of Good Standing: Corporate Consulting, Inc.]<ref/> Baker began working for IOGCC in 2002 while the organization was pushing hard for the [[Halliburton]] Loophole's insertion into first the Energy Policy Act of 2003, then the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In 2011, Baker gave a talk at IOGCC’s annual meeting in on how to deal with the public's fear of [[fracking]].
+
At the 1998 IOGCC annual meeting, Baker – while with Corporate Consulting, Inc. – gave a media training seminar.<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798415-Gerry-Baker-1998-IOGCC-Media-Training-Seminar.html IOGCC 1998 Annual Meeting], Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission</ref> Corporate Consulting, Inc. was incorporated in Oklahoma in 1991<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798206-Gerry-Baker-Incorporation-Form.html Oklahoma Department of State Incorporation Form: Corporate Consulting, Inc.]</ref> and got its most recent Certificate of Good Standing in July 2015.<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798208-Gerry-Baker-Cert-of-Good-Standing.html Oklahoma Department of State Certificate of Good Standing: Corporate Consulting, Inc.]</ref> Baker began working for IOGCC in 2002 while the organization was pushing hard for the [[Halliburton]] Loophole's insertion into first the Energy Policy Act of 2003, then the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In 2011, Baker gave a talk at IOGCC’s annual meeting in on how to deal with the public's fear of [[fracking]].
  
 
“When people do not get all of the information, or information is too technical, they begin to fill in the holes with what they can imagine,” he said in one of the early presentation slides. “The perceived risk, even if it isn’t a reality, makes hydraulic fracturing an emotional issue.”<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798411-Gerry-Baker-on-Fracking-and-PR.html#document/p3/a288273 "Reaching Out to a Broad Audience"], Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and FracFocus, October 17, 2011, accessed April 2016</ref>
 
“When people do not get all of the information, or information is too technical, they begin to fill in the holes with what they can imagine,” he said in one of the early presentation slides. “The perceived risk, even if it isn’t a reality, makes hydraulic fracturing an emotional issue.”<ref>[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2798411-Gerry-Baker-on-Fracking-and-PR.html#document/p3/a288273 "Reaching Out to a Broad Audience"], Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and FracFocus, October 17, 2011, accessed April 2016</ref>

Revision as of 20:23, 10 April 2016

{{#badges: FrackSwarm|Navbar-fracking}} The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, or (IOGCC), is a quasi-governmental organization based in Oklahoma City located on property adjacent to the Governor's Mansion and on Oklahoma state property.[1] The IOGCC is focused on oil and gas regulations, these days mostly centering around the issue of hydraulic fracturing, and is made up of appointees selected by the governors of the 38 oil and gas producing states, plus eight Canadian provinces and three countries as international affiliates.[2] Governors generally appoint high-level regulators to participate.

In 1991 at the dawn of the fracking boom, the commission changed its name from the Interstate Oil Compact Commission (IOCC) to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC). It was founded as the Interstate Compact to Conserve Oil and Gas.[3]

As commonly advertised, IOGCC’s membership base generally consists of top-ranking officials at state-level regulatory agencies. In reality, IOGCC’s membership roster[4] is dominated in the majority by lobbyists and executives, and these members are appointed by the Governors of member states. Some of those appointees are even lobbyists and/or industry attorneys.[5]

Today, IOGCC is best known for running the voluntary FracFocus database for disclosure of chemicals injected into the ground during fracking, doing so alongside the fellow Oklahoma City-based Groundwater Protection Council (GWPC). FracFocus – which IOGCC admitted in a presentation can serve as important public relations tool for the oil and gas industry – has come under fire by media[6] and academia[7] for its actual lack of transparency. FracFocus is linked to industry public relations firm Brothers and Company[8] which registered the website[9] and lists IOGCC as one of its clients alongside Chesapeake Energy, America’s Natural Gas Alliance and Devon Energy.[10]

Prominent Members

Ron Ness - Head of North Dakota Petroleum Council, Public Outreach Committee

Harold Hamm – Continental Resources CEO and Founder, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee

Ryan Bernstein – Legal Counsel and Chief-of-Staff for U.S. Sen. and former IOGCC chairman John Hoeven (R-ND); Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee

Tom Price – Former senior vice president of corporate development and government relations of Chesapeake Energy, Public Outreach Committee

Nancy Johnson – U.S. Department of Energy, Director of Environmental Science and Policy Analysis

Roger Kelley – Continental Resources, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee

Evan Olson – Legal counsel for ExxonMobil, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee

Lindsey Dingmore – XTO Energy, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee

Scott Anderson – Environmental Defense Fund, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee

Ronald C.Schultz,Jr. – ConocoPhillips, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee

Santana Gonzalez, Jr. - Now-retired lobbyist for Chevron in Texas, Environmental and Safety Committee

Marc Bond – Former legal counsel for Chevron, now legal counsel with Hillcorp[11]

Recent IOGCC Chairs

2016 - Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin

2015 - Utah Gov. Gary Herbert

2014 - Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant

2013 - Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley

2012 - Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell

2011 - Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin 
 2010 - Texas Gov. Rick Perry

2009 - Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry


2008 - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

2007 - North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven

2006 - Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal

2005 - Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski

2004 - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

2003 - North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven

2002 - Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

2001 - Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles

2000 - Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles

1999 - Kansas Gov. Bill Graves

1998 - Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer

1997 - Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating[12]

Overview

History

The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission was created by an act of Congress in 1935 as a constitutionally-ordained compact via Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution.[13] U.S. Congressman and Oklahoma Governor, E.W. Marland is considered IOGCC's founder.[14] Marland, who owned several oil companies in his lifetime, also founded the US Oil and Gas Association, then called the Mid-Continent Association. The US Oil and Gas Association is a lobbying group that spent $204,000 lobbying the federal government on behalf of the oil and gas industry in 2015.[15]

Though IOGCC is a compact, it often claims to be a government agency and is listed as such both on its own website, serves on several federal bodies as a government agency and is listed as an agency on the website of the Oklahoma government.

Despite this, IOGCC claims an exemption from both state- and federal-level open records law requests.[16] Though the 1997[17] and 2005[18] versions of IOGCC’s bylaws had a provision saying that the public is entitled to records of IOGCC proceedings, the current leadership of IOGCC does not respond to such requests.[19] Additionally, the current set of by-laws show that the IOGCC no longer lists an open records provision at all[20], meaning that according to its by-laws, two-thirds of IOGCC's membership would've had to have voted to strike that provision. IOGCC has claimed this exemption and altered its by-laws despite being located on property owned by the State of Oklahoma and transferred via a land deed by the State, situated on a parcel of land carved out for IOGCC next to the Governor’s Mansion.[21]

Funding

The IOGCC is funded, in part, through an excise tax[22] on petroleum and by contributions from various member states. Therefore, IOGCC funding increases with increased oil and gas production. Because the IOGCC does not report any information on its funding or budget, no one besides IOGCC itself knows how much of the Commission’s activities are funded directly by the oil and gas industry. A copy of the 2013 budget obtained through open records law from an IOGCC member state, though, reveals that a significant portion of the IOGCC’s budget comes from corporate donations to its biannual meetings.[23]

IOGCC conferences and meetings are funded through sponsorships by the oil and gas industry. The 2015 annual conference that took place in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was sponsored by some of the largest fracking companies, including Marathon Oil, the Canadian government, Schlumberger, Sandridge Energy, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, BP and XTO Energy.[24] Further, the prominent funders of its Columbus, Ohio 2014 annual meeting included the likes of Marathon Oil, ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy, Devon Energy, Enbridge, ConocoPhillips, BP.[25]

IOGCC's Impacts

Halliburton Loophole or IOGCC Loophole?

Fracking and Groundwater Contamination

The IOGCC has been influential in downplaying safety concerns regarding hydraulic fracturing and groundwater contamination. The IOGCC released a survey of fracking wells in 2002 that found that there has been nearly 1 million wells had used fracking "with no documented harm to groundwater." This study has been cited repeatedly since then, and has anchored the claim made by the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, and others that fracking cannot affect drinking water sources. It has since been discovered that the IOGCC missed or looked the other way at real-life incidents of groundwater contamination due to the fracking process.[26]

IOGCC's official position on-the-record is that "no further studies [of fracking] are necessary."[27]

Loophole Lobbying

FracFocus

The IOGCC operates the FracFocus website alongside the Groundwater Protection Council. The website, funded by government grants and the oil and gas industry, is a self-disclosure site that companies use to report the types of chemicals and operations they employ during their fracking operations. It is seen by the industry as an alternative disclosure mechanism to what existed prior to that under the Halliburton Loophole.

FracFocus, however, has come under scrutiny for not effectively disclosing fracking operations. In a Harvard Law School study titled "Legal Fractures in Chemical Disclosure Laws," the authors found government and the public shouldn’t rely on FracFocus as a reporting tool. The Harvard study found FracFocus inadequate for three main reasons: It is hard to determine when and if companies make disclosures. The data contained within FracFocus isn’t vetted—it consists of whatever the company reports. Secrecy claims made by companies aren’t vetted—FracFocus allows for unchallenged and extremely broad disclosure exemptions made at the company’s discretion.[28]

Oil and Gas Wastes Exemption

STRONGER

Frackquakes

Climate Denial

Influence Peddling

Lobbying Organ or Compact?

IOGCC members frequently testify[29] in Congress about oil and gas regulatory issues. One of the commission's main goals is to stop federal regulation of the oil and gas industry, primarily by advocating a "states first" approach to rule-making. Through the IOGCC's States First Initiative, the Commission and the Groundwater Protection Council (GWPC), a closely related government funded non-profit, advocate against federal regulation of the oil and gas industry. To this end, IOGCC representatives often address federal lawmakers about the adequacy of current state regulations, and what they claim is needlessness of further federal regulation or study.[30]

IOGCC also writes model resolutions[31] and distributes them to member states, Congress, and executive agencies. Each model resolution, as an IOGCC general practice, has an accompanying "Action Plan"[32] for what to do with the model in the public policy sphere. The model resolutions center around issue areas such as preventing and preempting federal regulations, anti-federal public lands advocacy, oil and gas wastes and waste injection, among other topics.[33]

The One Time IOGCC Registered

Public Relations Efforts

According to its website, IOGCC “advocates for environmentally-sound ways to increase the supply of American energy.”[34] The IOGCC website also offers a “Tips for effective activism” section,[35] in which it instructs state regulators to be the “voice” of the IOGCC in public hearings and community meetings. “We’re your voice to Congress. Be ours in your state,” the sub-headline of that document reads.[36]

IOGCC’s “voice” is shaped by oil and gas public relations firms like Brothers and Company, which give seminars to IOGCC’s member state regulators on messaging and how to deal with media.[37] At the same time, PR firms like Brothers run advertising campaigns on behalf of the oil and gas industry.[38]

That “voice” is also honed by IOGCC’s deputy director, Gerry Baker. Baker began his career as managing editor and state capitol bureau chief for the Oklahoma Business News Company, leaving in 1979 to do public relations work for the next 12 years for oil company Kerr-McGee Corporation. Anadarko Petroleum purchased Kerr-McGee as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2006.[39]

Thereafter, Baker “launched an independent consultancy – Corporate Consulting, Inc. – specializing in strategic communication planning and implementation for high profile clients,” reads his biography up on the Aspen Institute website. “In addition, he specialized in crisis communication management [and] Baker continues to provide these services for select clients.”[40]

At the 1998 IOGCC annual meeting, Baker – while with Corporate Consulting, Inc. – gave a media training seminar.[41] Corporate Consulting, Inc. was incorporated in Oklahoma in 1991[42] and got its most recent Certificate of Good Standing in July 2015.[43] Baker began working for IOGCC in 2002 while the organization was pushing hard for the Halliburton Loophole's insertion into first the Energy Policy Act of 2003, then the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In 2011, Baker gave a talk at IOGCC’s annual meeting in on how to deal with the public's fear of fracking.

“When people do not get all of the information, or information is too technical, they begin to fill in the holes with what they can imagine,” he said in one of the early presentation slides. “The perceived risk, even if it isn’t a reality, makes hydraulic fracturing an emotional issue.”[44]

The IOGCC, furthermore, has a tight-knit relationship with the industry-funded front group, public relations tool and lobbying group, Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA). CEA is an important part of the IOGCC’s 2013-launched States First Initiative, where they are listed as the only “ally.” It also wrote a “letter of support” for States First in March 2014, as well as giving a social media training at the IOGCC annual meeting in Columbus, OH.

Like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), IOGCC’s membership base – in some cases actual industry representative members – proposes and passes IOGCC model resolutions on the most pressing oil and gas-related regulatory issues of the day. These have run the gamut on policy areas ranging from public lands issues, safe and clean drinking water regulations, climate change issues, offshore drilling, and others.

The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission works closely with the oil and gas industry front group Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA). CEA runs PR trainings for members of the Commission and acts as a partner in strategic messaging for IOGCC initiatives like the States First Initiative[45] CEA has significant financial ties to the oil and gas industry and is listed as an "ally" of States First Initiative on the States First website.[46]

References

  1. ↑ "Congress-backed Interstate Oil Commission Call Cops When Reporter Arrives To Ask About Climate", Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog.com, October 9, 2015, accessed April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Member States", Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, accessed February 2016
  3. ↑ "80 Years of History and Accomplishments" Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, accessed Februrary 2016.
  4. ↑ "IOGCC 2015 Member Directory"
  5. ↑ "Some appointees to Oil and Gas Commission are Industry Execs", Marie Baca, Propublica.org, December 9, 2010, accessed April 2016.
  6. ↑ “Fracking Secrets by Thousands Keep U.S. Clueless on Wells”, Ben Elgin, Benjamin Haas and Phil Kuntz; Bloomberg, November 12, 2012
  7. ↑ “Disclosures on fracking lacking, study finds”, Liz Mineo, Harvard Gazette, December 15, 2015
  8. ↑ “Hydraulic Fracturing e‐reference”, North Dakota Industrial Commission, accessed April 2016
  9. ↑ “Networked Solutions WhoIs Search for FracFocus.org”, NetworkedSolutions.com, accessed April 2016
  10. ↑ “Hydraulic Fracturing e‐reference”, North Dakota Industrial Commission, accessed April 2016
  11. ↑ "IOGCC 2015 Member Directory"
  12. ↑ IOGCC Officers, accessed April 2016
  13. ↑ "S.J.Res.111 - A joint resolution consenting to an extension and renewal of the interstate compact to conserve oil and gas" , Congress.gov, accessed April 2016.
  14. ↑ "Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission History", Interstate Oil and Gas Compact, accessed April 2016
  15. ↑ "US Oil & Gas Association", OpenSecrets.org. accessed April 2016
  16. ↑ "Congress-backed Interstate Oil Commission Call Cops When Reporter Arrives To Ask About Climate", Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog.com, October 9, 2015, accessed April 2016.
  17. ↑ "IOGCC 1997 By-Laws"
  18. ↑ "2005 IOGCC By-Laws"
  19. ↑ "Congress-backed Interstate Oil Commission Call Cops When Reporter Arrives To Ask About Climate", Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog.com, October 9, 2015, accessed April 2016.
  20. ↑ "IOGCC 2015 By-Laws"
  21. ↑ "Congress-backed Interstate Oil Commission Call Cops When Reporter Arrives To Ask About Climate", Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog.com, October 9, 2015, accessed April 2016.
  22. ↑ The Interstate Oil Compact Fund of Oklahoma, accessed April 2016
  23. ↑ IOGCC 2013 Finance Committee Report
  24. ↑ "2015 Annual Conference: Oklahoma City, OK", DeSmogBlog.com, accessed April 2016.
  25. ↑ IOGCC 2014 Annual Meeting Sponsors
  26. ↑ [1], "A Tainted Well and Concern There May Be More." Ian Urbina. The New York Times. August 3, 2011
  27. ↑ [2], Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission 2010 Resolutions. Accessed February 2016
  28. ↑ [3], "Legal Fractures in Chemical Disclosure Laws: Why the Voluntary Chemical Disclosure Registry FracFocus Fails as a Regulatory Compliance Tool." Kate Knschnik, Margaret Holden, Alexa Shasteen. Harvard Law School. Accessed February 2016.
  29. ↑ [4], "IOGCC Testimony: Domestic Production Essential to Energy Solution," accessed February 2016.
  30. ↑ [5], "Ohio tells feds: Stay off fracking." Rachel Morgan. Shale Reporter. April 18, 2013. Accessed February 2016.
  31. ↑ [6], Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, "Model Resolutions," accessed February 2016
  32. ↑ [7], 2010 Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission Model Resolutions, Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining OGM File Services, accessed February 2016.
  33. ↑ [8], Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, "Model Resolutions," accessed February 2016
  34. ↑ "About Us, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, accessed April 2016
  35. ↑ "Tips for Effective Activism", Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, accessed April 2016
  36. ↑ "Tips for Effective Activism", Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, accessed April 2016
  37. ↑ Document obtained from the U.S. Department of Energy
  38. ↑ “Hydraulic Fracturing e‐reference”, North Dakota Industrial Commission, accessed April 2016
  39. ↑ Gerry Baker Biography
  40. ↑ Gerry Baker Biography
  41. ↑ IOGCC 1998 Annual Meeting, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission
  42. ↑ Oklahoma Department of State Incorporation Form: Corporate Consulting, Inc.
  43. ↑ Oklahoma Department of State Certificate of Good Standing: Corporate Consulting, Inc.
  44. ↑ "Reaching Out to a Broad Audience", Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and FracFocus, October 17, 2011, accessed April 2016
  45. ↑ [9] CEA website accessed August 2014
  46. ↑ [10], "Allies," States First Initiative, accessed February 2016
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