Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Oil And Gas Appointments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate committee hears short, uncontested hearings for five Oil and Gas Board appointments
Summary
The Senate Natural Resources Committee held brief hearings on five governor’s appointees to the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation. Nominees — including landowners and industry representatives — drew unanimous proponent testimony and no opponents.
The Senate Natural Resources Committee opened hearings on Senate Resolutions 95, 96, 97, 98 and 100 to consider governor’s appointees to the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation.
Senator Daniel Zolnikov opened the sequence and introduced the nominees; proponents included a representative of the governor’s office, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), the Montana Petroleum Association and other local industry and county groups. Nominees presented brief statements and answered few committee questions. No opponents testified in person or online during any of the five hearings.
The governor’s office representative, Hannah Slusser, summarized the board’s statutory composition: seven members, including three industry representatives with at least three years’ production experience, two landowners in producing counties (one with mineral rights and one without), one attorney, and one additional unspecified member. Amanda Kaster, director of DNRC, said the board ‘‘promotes conservation and protects mineral owners’ rights while facilitating efficient resource development’’ and oversees activities including drilling permits, well spacing and the class II underground injection control program to protect drinking water sources.
Nominees who appeared and spoke to the committee were: Jeffrey Wivel (Medicine Lake), introduced under SR 95 as a landowner with mineral rights; Barbara Skelton (Billings), introduced under SR 96 as a landowner without mineral rights and with an energy-industry background; Corey Walter (Billings), an industry representative and current vice chair who said he has spent over 50 years in the oil industry; Mac McDermott (Shelby), a small producer with about 20 years’ experience and a current board member; and Roy Brown (Billings), described by his sponsor as a public member with decades of oil‑and‑gas experience and prior legislative service.
Industry groups and local associations — including the Montana Petroleum Association and the Montana Association of Oil, Gas and Coal Counties — urged confirmation of each nominee. Testifying supporters also included individual former legislators and local attorneys who described the nominees’ experience and character. Committee members asked few substantive questions; several senators thanked nominees for traveling to Helena and for providing resumes.
None of the five hearings drew opponent testimony or informational witnesses, and each hearing closed quickly at the sponsor’s request.
The committee record does not show a formal committee vote on these specific resolutions during the session excerpted here.
