Wyoming County Commissioners Association

1. Wyoming County Commissioners Association May 22, 2012 How We Managed an Oil Boom Williston Basin Petroleum Conference Presented by Cindy DeLancey

2. Wyoming Overview • Current population of Wyoming 536,626. • Population up 14.1% latest census. • Population increase largely attributed to Energy Industry. • Growth taken place in rural counties. • Sublette County, Wyoming led the pack by Growing 73% in the county. • City of Gillette grew by 48% • Unemployment rate 6.4% compared to 9.4% national average. • WY 7th largest oil producing state and in 2008 ranked 2nd for natural gas reserves.

3. Regulation in Wyoming • Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. • Board made up of Governor, Director of Office of State Lands, State Geologist and two other Commission members. • Oversees permitting process for Oil and Gas drilling in the state. • Counties do not have regulatory authority over permitting of Oil or Gas. • Oil and Gas development is exempt from Industrial Siting (No Impact Assistance) • Pros and Cons of no regulatory authority at county level. • Split Estate Laws apply in Wyoming codified in 2005.

4. County Impacts

5. Impacts to Counties • Road usage • Air Quality • Strain on Social Services • Change of local character of Community • Crime Increase • Strain on aging infrastructure or lack of adequate infrastructure

6. What do we do? • Communication is Key!! • Get to know your commissioners and local elected officials and keep them informed about activities in their area. • Ask the Local Officials in your preliminary meetings to articulate their expectations up front. This will avoid misunderstandings later. • Continue communications frequently and often. • Share the good and the bad. No one likes surprises!! • Educate the local elected officials about the oil industry. • Provide current local company contacts on who to contact if there is a problem. • Encourage your elected officials to come for a tour. • Seeing is believing.

11. Help for Local Governments

12. Local resources are key to mitigate industrial impact • Wyoming Business Council • www.wyomingbusiness.org • Funded through the Wyoming Legislature. • Last Budget session about $15 million dollars for local development of public infrastructure. • Business council helps communities build critical infrastructure. • Programs include: Business Ready Community Grant program, Community Development Block Grants and Community Facilities Grant and Loan program.

13. Wyoming Business Council Cont.. • Business Council has developed programs to assist with Business Relocation Assistance. • Industrial Development often needs so many other ancillary businesses to help the industry be successful. • Business Council in Wyoming has also been successful in attempting to attract new industries to an area to help diversify Local and State economies.

14. Saving for the future • State Permanent Mineral Trust Fund : Money that is deposited into a long term savings account that flows from revenues collected from mineral extraction revenues. • Current balance as of the end of 2011: $5.3 Billion. • WY also has another $1.2 Billion in our “rainy day fund”. • Money is there at the state level for the future. • Campbell County, WY started their own local permanent mineral trust fund. • Wyoming counties would like statutory mechanism to develop local savings. • Trust funds are necessary to preserve money for future sustainability of infrastructure built today.

15. Government & Industry Collaboration • Partnership • Examples of effective collaboration • Monthly breakfast with elected officials • Working with community colleges on job training programs • Helping develop emergency services • Developing responsible and reasonable regulation through the public process • Working with local governments on legislative issues • County Road Impact Fund • Socioeconomic study: Governments need help in developing

16. We Can Have Our Cake and Eat it Too!

17. Elk Herd

19. What is in it for Wyoming Counties? • 20 of the 23 Counties in Wyoming have gas production. (All have pipelines) • Sublette County 2011 Production 389,149,877 Mcf • Johnson County 2011 Production 125,853,618 Mcf • We are supplying our nation with domestic energy. • 2009 Wyoming 2nd in Natural gas production with Sublette County leading the way. (Jonah Field) • 25,666 wells in Wyoming producing gas, 15,725 were coal bed natural gas wells. • In 2009 Wyoming had 44 operating gas plants processing 72% of the state’s gas production. • Jobs… jobs…. jobs…… 20,000 people in industry. • Minerals are only class or kind of property in Wyoming valued and taxed at 100% of their actual value.

21. Taxes Property, Severance & Sales Tax • Wyoming taxes paid by Natural Gas in 2009 $524,467,321 in Property Taxes to Wyoming Counties. (Schools are funded from this also) • Wyoming collected approximately $355,260,588 in severance taxes from Natural Gas in 2009. • Severance Tax rate 6%: Tax distributed to State General fund, schools, cities and counties highways and water development. • Sales Tax Collection 2009: $163.1 million . • Bottom Line: Direct payment of nearly $4,692 for every person living in Wyoming. Keeps our taxes low.

22. Recap • Join forces with your local government officials as they are the government closest to the people. • Inform the elected officials as much as you can so they know what is going on. • No politician likes to have to say … “I don’t know”. • Impacts are real, must be aware and address together. • Socioeconomics of impacts are complicated and resources need help. • The impacts are hard now, but there will come a point when they level off and the community can go forward and do some great things.

23. Questions? Cindy DeLancey Executive Director, WCCA cdelancey@wyo-wcca.org 307-630-2557 cell 307-632-5409 office