More than 500 industry people gathered in Jackson this week for the 17th Annual Wyoming Oil and Gas Fair. Wyoming Public Radio’s energy and natural resources reporter, Stephanie Joyce was there, and she joins us now to talk about the event.
BOB BECK: So, what are the biggest issues on the mind of Wyoming’s oil and gas industry right now?
STEPHANIE JOYCE: Well, taking a look at the very big picture, I think one of the takeaways from this event is that the oil and gas industry feels it’s under attack – the event kicked off on Thursday with a keynote address by former vice president Dick Cheney, and he didn’t mince words. He said there’s a “war on fossil fuels” – and while he was referring specifically to the Obama administration in that case, the rest of his speech made it clear that he thinks the opposition is more pervasive. And Cheney wasn’t the only one at the conference to employ the war analogy. Governor Mead spoke right after the vice president, and he actually spent most of his time talking about coal – or more specifically, the war on coal. He did acknowledge that it was a little strange to be talking about coal at an oil and gas conference, but his point was that the industry needs to be paying attention, because – his words – they’ll be next.
Click here to read the full article at wyomingpublicmedia.org.