“We need to start thinking and talking about the day when we don’t have oil and gas resources at all.” Sen. David Holt
One of the 36 interim studies approved by the State Senate leadership in Oklahoma in the past several days focuses on a long-term strategy for replacing revenue provided by oil and gas extraction and gross production taxes.
The Senate Appropriations Committee will hear Sen. David Holt’s request to take a long and hard look at energy’s impact not in the next few years but in the next half-a-century.
“What we want to do with this interim study is look at it even more long term,” explained Sen. Holt in an interview with OK Energy Today. “We need to start thinking and talking about the day when we don’t have oil and gas resources at all and what will that do to affect the state budget when we don’t have a gross production.”
His study comes as the plunge in gross production tax revenue has definitely hurt the state treasury.
“Is that day imminent? Absolutely not, I’m talking about 50 to 100 years from now, but it will happen some day. We will run out of this stuff and our state budget is so dependent on it,” continued Holt.
While improvements in fracking technology led to the current renaissance in the oil and gas industry over the past 5-10 years, at one time experts predicted oil and gas resources would play out.
“We’re living through good times in terms of getting and finding oil and gas in Oklahoma but it will eventually run out! We need to be talking about long term planning. Some times the legislature doesn’t plan two weeks in advance let alone 50 to 100 years.”
Listen to Sen. David Holt’s discussion of the study with Radio Oklahoma’s Michael Dean.