Thursday, November 11, 2010
Energy And Natural Resource Symposium
WEST VIRGINIA....
Energy industry leaders speaking in Cabell County Nov. 9 warned that the industry is under siege.
“The question,” said Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, “is whether the cavalry will arrive in time before the settlers perish.”
Quinn was the keynote speaker at the 2010 Energy & Natural Resource Symposium, sponsored by the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce and Natural Resource Partners LP. He and the symposium’s other speakers painted a picture of an energy industry that’s under constant attack by politicians and bureaucrats as a result of the “energy illiteracy” that’s pervasive in Washington.
Citing the Republican Party’s gains in the Nov. 2 election, Quinn noted, “The House is under new management, and the Senate Democrats have a much narrower margin of control. That means we should now have the votes in place to stop some bad things from happening but, unfortunately, not enough in place to make good things happen.”
That, Quinn said, puts the emphasis squarely on the 2012 election.
“Right now it’s all about 2012,” he said.
More than 200 people — representing a cross-section of the region’s business community — attended the session at the Pullman Plaza Hotel, the latest in an annual series presented by the Huntington Chamber and Natural Resource Partners.
John Felmy, chief economist with the American Petroleum Institute, told the group that many of the energy policies embraced by the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress “are completely at variance with reality. They’re disingenuous, delusionary and downright dangerous.”
Asked about recent increases in gasoline prices, Felmy said questions about the price of gas are the most frequent queries he gets as he travels around the country. Gas prices currently are going up, he said, because the price of crude oil is going up. And that’s happening, he said, because the recession may have reduced demand in this country but world wide demand is nearing a record high. The growing Chinese middle class, he noted, is buying automobiles by the millions.
William L. Kovacs, vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, noted that “cap and trade legislation is off the table” but the energy industry is still wrestling with countless edicts from the Environmental Protection Agency, which is vastly exceeding its rule-making authority.
“Congress has lost control of the rule-making process,” Kovacs said.
Nick Carter, president and chief operating officer of Natural Resource Partners, labeled energy “the key issue of our day” and voiced his concerns about the restrictions being placed on coal by the EPA and others.
“When I go to work every day I feel like I’m going to war,” Carter said.
Carter noted the importance of coal to the West Virginia economy.
“The coal and electricity industries pay 60 percent of the business taxes collected in West Virginia,” he said.
Natural Resource Partners, which has its operating headquarters in Huntington, is the fifth largest owner of coal reserves in the United States. Five percent of the U.S. coal production comes from its properties.
Energy industry leaders speaking in Cabell County Nov. 9 warned that the industry is under siege.
“The question,” said Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, “is whether the cavalry will arrive in time before the settlers perish.”
Quinn was the keynote speaker at the 2010 Energy & Natural Resource Symposium, sponsored by the Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce and Natural Resource Partners LP. He and the symposium’s other speakers painted a picture of an energy industry that’s under constant attack by politicians and bureaucrats as a result of the “energy illiteracy” that’s pervasive in Washington.
Citing the Republican Party’s gains in the Nov. 2 election, Quinn noted, “The House is under new management, and the Senate Democrats have a much narrower margin of control. That means we should now have the votes in place to stop some bad things from happening but, unfortunately, not enough in place to make good things happen.”
That, Quinn said, puts the emphasis squarely on the 2012 election.
“Right now it’s all about 2012,” he said.
More than 200 people — representing a cross-section of the region’s business community — attended the session at the Pullman Plaza Hotel, the latest in an annual series presented by the Huntington Chamber and Natural Resource Partners.
John Felmy, chief economist with the American Petroleum Institute, told the group that many of the energy policies embraced by the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress “are completely at variance with reality. They’re disingenuous, delusionary and downright dangerous.”
Asked about recent increases in gasoline prices, Felmy said questions about the price of gas are the most frequent queries he gets as he travels around the country. Gas prices currently are going up, he said, because the price of crude oil is going up. And that’s happening, he said, because the recession may have reduced demand in this country but world wide demand is nearing a record high. The growing Chinese middle class, he noted, is buying automobiles by the millions.
William L. Kovacs, vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, noted that “cap and trade legislation is off the table” but the energy industry is still wrestling with countless edicts from the Environmental Protection Agency, which is vastly exceeding its rule-making authority.
“Congress has lost control of the rule-making process,” Kovacs said.
Nick Carter, president and chief operating officer of Natural Resource Partners, labeled energy “the key issue of our day” and voiced his concerns about the restrictions being placed on coal by the EPA and others.
“When I go to work every day I feel like I’m going to war,” Carter said.
Carter noted the importance of coal to the West Virginia economy.
“The coal and electricity industries pay 60 percent of the business taxes collected in West Virginia,” he said.
Natural Resource Partners, which has its operating headquarters in Huntington, is the fifth largest owner of coal reserves in the United States. Five percent of the U.S. coal production comes from its properties.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 9:49 AM 
