CONCERNED CITIZENS FOR FREEDOM OF THE 3RD

DISTRICT
OILFIELD ISSUES
11/19/09

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Thank you for allowing me the time to address the group this evening.
I’ve been asked to deliver a short message regarding the current
economic crisis involving the petroleum industry and the impact that
the current administration’s plans will have on our vital economic
engine. I am not an expert on this issue, but I think by providing you
with what I see regarding this issue and giving you this on the basis of
my years within the petroleum industry, I believe that I can give you a
better idea of what is being done concerning the oilfield.

Just a short biography on myself and where I have come from. I was
born and raised in Jeanerette, educated at our public university in
Lafayette, USL, and began my work experience within healthcare
shortly after graduation. I was a paramedic for 6 years with AASI and
moved to the oil industry in 1998 as a safety / medic at Bollinger
Shipyards in Amelia. I have been employed with Dynamic Industries,
Inc. for the past 8 ½ years at the Port of Iberia as a SH&E Coordinator
and have been fortunate enough to have been a part of the oilfield
industry for the better part of 12 years. I have worked on a drilling rig
in the Gulf of Mexico as a medic and have been involved in oilfield
construction in a safety capacity at both Bollinger and DII. This
industry has been good to my family and has provided me with a
livelihood to support my wife and two small children. Therefore, when
Obama says that he is going to implement some of the initiatives that
he so desperately seeks, I take this personal.

As I see it, the most pressing issue to date is the Cap and Trade system
that has been pushed through the House of Representatives and now
sits in the Senate. The following is a basic synopsis of what exactly is
“cap and trade” that can be found on Wikipedia:

Emissions trading (also known as emission trading or cap

and trade), is an administrative approach used to control
pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving
reductions in the emissions of pollutants.

A central authority (usually a governmental body) sets a

limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be
emitted. Companies or other groups are issued emission
permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of
allowances (or credits) which represent the right to emit
a specific amount. The total amount of allowances and
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credits cannot exceed the cap, limiting total emissions to

that level. Companies that need to increase their
emission allowance must buy credits from those who
pollute less. The transfer of allowances is referred to as
a trade.
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In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while

the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions
by more than was needed. Thus, in theory, those who
can reduce emissions most cheaply will do so, achieving
the pollution reduction at the lowest cost to society.

By reading this, the first thing that came to mind is the redistribution of
wealth. A company will be allowed to continue polluting, but the
company that does not pollute is “rewarded”. Naturally, an oilfield
company, such as a refinery, that emits huge quantities of carbon
during their processes will suffer most. But, does this concept really
work or is this whole “global warming premise” just a charade to
redistribute wealth?

During the past year, we have noticed a significant decrease in the

amount of work that is being provided to oilfield service companies
such as the one for which I am employed. Layoffs in the Port of Iberia
have become more commonplace than employment and some
companies have resorted to mothballing entire facilities for lack of
work. Projects on which we have been directly involved have been
shelved INDEFINATELY in the middle of construction and we have no
knowledge of if or when they will start back up.

Could all of this be a result of the unintended, or possibly intended,

consequences of the “environmental hysteria” being generated within
the nation at this time?

Just for a minute, if you were a business owner and you were in the
middle of a debate concerning the future of your industry, would you
be expending any unnecessary capital? That is exactly what is taking
place at this time with the oil companies. I foresee them holding back
on any expenditure until the debate has been settled and we find out
once and for all how much the cost of doing business will be under an
Obama administration. Our President has already come out and said
that all tax incentives for oil and gas industry will be pulled, once
again, leaving little initiative for these companies to go out and expend
capital on exploration and production.

And where does our Louisiana Senator come down on these issues?
Mary Landrieu has flip-flopped more than a fish out of water. Back in
August of 2008, a report from the Rocky Mountain News service
reported that she had struck a “deal” with Ken Salazar, then Senator
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from the State of Colorado. She voted “no” on a bill that would have
removed restrictions on oil shale development.
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For those that are not familiar with this process, it involves using high
pressure steam to develop oil from shale, of which here in Louisiana
we have a field, in Haynesville. In trying to explain away her vote, she
stated that she voted as such to expedite oil shale production and was
asked to vote this way by Sen. Salazar. Now we have Sen. Salazar as
Secretary of the Interior, which is over leasing and drilling rights in the
United States. What kind of deal making do you think our Senator will
take part in now that her party is in control and the liberals are intent
on crippling the oilfield industry?

The latest news out of Washington, DC from Sec. Salazar is that a

shorter lease term for oil blocks in 400 – 1600 m of water is in the
planning stage. Tracts lying in these ranges will change from either an
8 year to 5 year term or a 10 year to a 7 year term, depending on
water depth. In common terms, this means that those areas where
drilling is taking place will not be available for as long as they have in
the past. The American Petroleum Institute has come out against this
move and has called this an “impediment to the development of the oil
and natural gas industry necessary for the American economy to
prosper.” What will happen is that in the current economic
environment, those companies that are leery of expending capital are
not going to go through the leasing process because of the inflexibility
to operate in that environment.

As you can see, from the recalling of tax incentives, roadblocks in

leasing for E&P (exploration and production), game playing in DC over
alternative petroleum production and the fear of “cap and trade”, the
petroleum industry within the United States is fearful of the future.
And what is the result of that fear? Continued dependence on foreign
oil and on individuals that are hell-bent on destroying this country (i.e.
Muslim extremists in Middle Eastern oil producing nations).

One thing of pure idiocy that I have found that shows how out of touch
and inept that Obama administration really is pertains to the
underwriting of offshore drilling to the country of BRAZIL. The US is
going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s national oil industry,
Petrobras, to explore a huge oil discovery in a Brazilian oilfield. This
makes one question the true intent of Obama’s oil and gas policies.

And who does Obama put into positions of influence regarding

decisions on the environment that directly impact the oil and gas
industry? Noted Communists such as Van Jones, who has been
involved in organizations such as STORM (Standing Together to
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Organize a Revolutionary Movement), which is committed to

revolutionary Marxist policy.
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Obama appointed Mr. Jones as the “Green Jobs Czar” which would have
influenced policy on environmental issues such as cap and trade and
the petroleum industry. Mr. Jones has come out as a proponent of
“environmental justice” and opposing “environmental racism”. Mr.
Jones feels that the environment has been ravaged by white polluters
that have steered poisonous chemicals into the minority
neighborhoods and, as a result, should compensate them through
basically a redistribution of wealth.

Can we as a country continue to allow people of this character to

ravage our economy with garbage such as this that is coming out of
DC on an almost daily basis? If we do not stand up and fight for the
rights that we have been afforded, then the freedoms we enjoy will go
down and we will be the next “ism” in the world; that being socialism.

The petroleum industry is a key component of the nation’s economy.

Rather than putting punitive measures in place, we should be doing all
we can to allow ALL forms of capitalism to flourish under less taxes,
less regulation and more economic freedom. The potential cost of
inactivity and continued investment discouragement will be
catastrophic.

Thank you for your time.