Getting back to our summer essay assignment, we spent the “time off” educating as many state leaders as we could about how the oil and gas industry works, the record-breaking growth the state is seeing, the benefits a robust oil and gas industry brings to the state and local communities and the challenges we will need to overcome in order to keep growing.
Coming off a successful and very well-attended legislative tour last fall, UPA partnered to host three additional site tours this summer for our state and local elected officials, key executive branch individuals and other important stakeholders. We owe a huge thanks to all those who attended and, most importantly, to those who hosted us and helped us organize these unique opportunities, including XCL, Javelin, Finley Resources, Uinta Wax, Caerus Oil and Gas, Wildcat, DOGM, Uintah County, Duchesne County and UB Tech.
These site tours are critical in giving legislators an opportunity to “kick the tires” and get a better understanding of critical issues — whether that be how we have driven technology changes that allow us to drill for miles horizontally, how we are reducing emissions while increasing production or how the $88.5M the legislature appropriated in the 2023 session supports the basin’s ability to continue safely exporting product to rail facilities and on to other markets. The challenges are many, from the deluge of federal regulations that restrict production on federal lands and make it more costly to infrastructure challenges such as natural gas pipelines, running electricity to our production sites to reduce emissions, maintaining roads and expanding rail facilities so that we can continue growing production, not to mention workforce development, opportunities to recycle water and navigating the imminent ozone non-attainment status across the three jurisdictions in the basin.
We’re excited to partner with the Energy Summit to include a site tour as part of their annual program, and we look for opportunities to partner with our legislature, regulatory agencies and communities to educate, advocate and continue to fuel Utah’s growth and prosperity!
