On April 15th and 16th 2014, R&R worked with the Conference of Western Attorneys General to host a national energy summit in Denver, Colorado. The summit was the first public gathering of attorneys general and oil and gas stakeholders to address environmental regulatory challenges arising from directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking. The success of the conference prompted the attorneys general to ask that a section of the upcoming 2014 Conference of Western Attorneys General Annual Meeting in July be dedicated to issues surrounding energy.
So what exactly is this organization and what do they do? The Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG) is a bipartisan group comprised of the chief legal officers of 15 western states and three Pacific territories. In addition to providing information and articulating western state views on federal issues and legislation, CWAG initiates meetings with many federal agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Energy, to name a few.
As government public affairs and marketing communication specialists in the energy sector, R&R Partners’
Denver office will be gearing up to host and launch a follow up energy summit this July in Park City, Utah. It’s important to understand why R&R is involved in the discussions surrounding energy. The Energy Department now estimates that the country has 25 trillion cubic meters of technically recoverable resources of shale gas, which when combined with other oil-and-gas resources, could last for two centuries. By 2017, the U.S. could be positioned to pass Saudi Arabia and overtake Russia as the world’s largest oil producer, according to a broad consensus of energy experts. To achieve real energy independence, which will make our nation more secure and stronger economically, there needs to be a clear course of action that brings all stakeholders together.
With the ongoing energy revolution, there are a number of implications for both American domestic and foreign policy. For example, increased shale-energy production will boost the economy by producing more jobs. It also reduces imports, which help the balance of payments and creates new tax revenues for local governments. In terms of foreign policy, our newfound abundance of energy will allow, for example, the United State to reduce Russia’s ability to coerce its neighbors by threats to cut off gas and other energy supplies.
By working in conjunction with the Conference of Western Attorneys General, not only is R&R able to participate in the ongoing conversation about our country’s energy policy, but we are also able to help bring together various energy stakeholders in building a consensus when public opinion and regulatory issues are at a crossroads. This reflects our government public affairs vision of playing an integral role in our nation’s connection between the environment and striving to become energy independent.
