DENVER – Western Energy Alliance’s president, Kathleen Sgamma, will testify at a hearing entitled­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ “Monetizing Nature and Locking up Public Land: The Implications of Biden’s Strategy for Natural Capital Accounting” before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Oversight and Investigations. Sgamma’s testimony focuses on the detriments of federal agencies implementing the president’s natural capital accounting strategy to assess ecological services values and the growing number of federal bureaucratic initiatives that crowd out basic government services. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, March 7th, at 10:15 a.m. ET, and will be available on the committee’s website.
 
“The initiative on natural capital accounting is but another example of bureaucratic encrustation. Twenty-seven federal agencies are now busily figuring out how to account for the natural resource and ecosystem services values they control or advise on. Like other initiatives that have no basis in U.S. law, the Biden Administration looks outside the country for justification. The environmental-economic statistics are to be based on the United Nations’ System of Environmental-Economic Accounting,” said Sgamma. “As the federal government struggles to provide services at a reasonable cost to taxpayers and our national debt has swelled to nearly $35 trillion because the government cannot keep to its means, it is now to apply a whole new accounting framework for often subjective ecosystem services valuations.

​DENVER – Western Energy Alliance today criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) long-anticipated final climate disclosure rule, which intends to ultimately defund American oil and natural gas production. The trade association stressed that the regulation meets the demands of anti-oil-and-gas activist groups yet has no basis in law.
 
“SEC’s rule seeks to reorient the entire financial system and drive climate change policy rather than promote fair financial returns for workers, retirees, and investors,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance. “As part of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government approach on climate change, SEC is willing to inflate energy prices by denying financing for American oil and natural gas production and costing Americans $10.2 billion. Despite SEC’s stated intentions, the rule would flood investors with inconsistent, confusing information about ill-defined climate change risk and greenhouse gas data that conflicts with more technically sound inventories from the Environmental Protection Agency. Even with the withdrawal of Scope 3 emissions, the rule lacks statutory authority and elevates speculative climate change risk above material financial information of value to investors. The commission lacks the authority from Congress for this rule and is pursuing a political agenda at the cost of hardworking Americans.

DENVER – Following President Biden’s recent decision to halt new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export licenses, Western Energy Alliance today called on the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the “Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act” (H.R. 7176). Lawmakers will debate the legislation introduced by Rep. August Pfluger (TX-11) this week. The proposal would revoke export licensing from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which is the authority President Biden used to “pause” new exports, and grant exclusive regulatory authority to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
 
“In recent weeks, we’ve seen bipartisan pushback to Pres. Biden’s decision and strong support for exporting American LNG to our allies. It’s clear the president made an election-year calculation rather than one based on facts or public interest. Congress needs to step in to take corrective action,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance. “The fact that DOE retains authority today over export decisions is a relic of the 1938 Natural Gas Act. Federal licensing isn’t required for other commodities and is born of an outdated philosophy that natural gas must be conserved because of its scarcity. The words ‘American natural gas’ and ‘scarcity’ should never be said in the same sentence ever again, but that old-fashioned statute remains. By eliminating DOE from the equation, Congress can remove an outdated and unnecessary step to help ensure secure energy for our allies, further greenhouse gas reductions, and economic growth.”

HOUSTON -- Energy Workforce & Technology Council (EWTC) joined the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), US Oil and Gas Association (USOGA), National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, Western Energy Alliance, and Gulf Energy Alliance today in urging Congress to take immediate legislative action to counter the Biden Administrations’ recent decision to halt LNG permits.
 
The legislation, “Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act,” was introduced by U.S. Congressman August Pfluger and seeks to place the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in charge of all LNG export permitting in the United States.

Associations Defend Industry’s Interests Where Task Force Fell Silent
 
CASPER, Wyo. – In response to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Rock Springs Resource Management Plan Revisions (RMP), the Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW) and Western Energy Alliance (Alliance) submitted comments in defense of multiple use to Wyoming BLM State Director Andrew Archuleta. The industry groups were compelled to take this action to defend the oil and natural gas industry’s interests where the recent task force, assembled by the state and facilitated by the University of Wyoming, remained largely silent.