in the position Congressman Edmondson has on this committee. We are fortunate that our newest member was assigned to this committee, which has so much to do with not only the subject under discussion today, but with so many of the facets of Oklahoma life.

Mr. Chairman, it is a pleasure and a privilege on my part to be able to present the young and distinguished Representative who will make the major presentation here today. Now, may I say that I am pleased to welcome all members, and I am particularly pleased to recognize in the group, two very outstanding members of the State legislature in my district, Senator Wayne Holden and Representative Bill Tarwater who come from Stephens County, Duncan, the home of Halliburton, and today the leading oil producing county in the State of Oklahoma.

It has refineries and just about every activity connected with oil. I might add that I represent a district of 22 counties, 21 of which produce either oil or gas, or both. I don't think that is matched by many other districts in the United States.

But, the privilege of introducing Representative Boren is a special one. David Boren was a Rhodes Scholar, but not contemporaneous at Oxford with me as is quite apparent. David is the son of a distinguished former member of Congress, former Representative Lyle Boren. He is a constituent of mine, and certainly one of the ablest men in the State legislature, if not in the State of Oklahoma, one who has great knowledge of the subject, comes from Seminole County which I suppose over the years has produced as much oil as any county in the State, and he will be accompanied in his presentation by Representative Fred Boettcher, and Representative Barbour Cox.

Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to introduce my constituent, my friend, and one of my campaign managers, and one of the ablest men in the State legislature, the Honorable David Boren.

Mr. EDMONDSON. I thank the majority leader, and I share his opinion which he has expressed about the outstanding ability of the chairman of this legislative committee and his distinction as a public servant.

Before we recognize him, however, we have a colleague on this committee who I know would like to express a word of greeting to this committee. He is a distinguished Oklahoman himself. He is not on the subcommittee, through no fault of his own, and we hope to have him on shortly. He was one of the outstanding members of the Oklahoma Legislature and has as many distinctions as any man I know, and that is Representative Happy Camp. Happy.

Mr. CAMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, wish to welcome you gentlemen before this committee this morning. I would like to add that two of the three gentlemen that are to make the presentation this morning, are from my congressional district, and we also have Representative Hesser from Payne County, which is the home of Oklahoma State University which happens to be in my district.

I have known these gentlemen, Mr. Chairman, for many years and served with quite a few of them who are here today in the Oklahoma Legislature, and I believe that as young as our State is, that our Oklahoma Legislature has made more progress procedure-wise for the betterment of good government than any State within the Union.

We were early in the Legislative Council business, and the National Council of State Governments, and we that have had any association with the Oklahoma Legislature are very, very proud of these gentlemen and things that they are doing, an the things that they have done in the State of Oklahoma, in the past and we welcome you here this morning to appear before this committee.

Thank you.

Mr. EDMONDSON. My colleague from Utah, Congressman Burton, wants to make a brief statement.

Mr. BURTON. Mr. Chairman, as ranking member I would like to join you in welcoming your distinguished delegation from Oklahoma, and I would like the record to show that I will not be able to stay here for their entire presentation.

One of my constituents is being decorated downtown this morning, and I am going to leave in a few minutes to go down to that. But, we are happy to have him here, and also I think the committee is honored to have our distinguished Majority Leader, Mr. Albert, who is respected on both sides of the aisle for his great leadership and considerations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. EDMONDSON. At this time I would like to place in the record a letter dated April 13, 1970, received from Mr. David L. Boren, plus a resolution No. 1073 of the Oklahoma Legislature.

Hearing no objection the letter and resolution follow:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
STATE OF OKLAHOMA,
Oklahoma City Okla., April 13, 1970.

Hon. WAYNE ASPINALL,

U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN ASPINALL: I am forwarding the 50 typewritten copies of our statement for the Oil Import Hearings on April 23.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives has passed a Resolution authorizing a delegation, of which I am Chairman, to appear and testify on behalf of the House. I am also enclosing a copy of this resolution and the names of those who will be accompanying me. I will serve as spokesman for the group and we will keep our oral testimony to a minimum amount of time.

Also accompanying us as a Special Advisor will be Mr. Tim Dowd, Director of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission and Mr. Jeff Spellman, Research Assistant with the Oklahoma Legislative Council.

We very much appreciate this opportunity to express our views to the Committee.

Sincerely yours,

DAVID L. BOREN, State Representative.

ENROLLED HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 1073

(By: Boren, Boettcher, Wayland, Cox, Allard, Tarwater and Hesser) A resolution authorizing the Speaker of the House of Representatives to appoint a committee of five members of the House of Representatives to prepare a statement expressing the opposition of the Legislature to the placing of direct Federal Control on the price of crude oil or the reduction of the domestic price incentive and to appear and testify before the Committee on Interior and insular Affairs of the Unted States House of Representatives on April 23 and 24, 1970; and authorizing reimbursement to committee members for travel and expenses. Whereas, the oil and gas industry is vital to the economy of this state and the nation; and

Whereas, this Legislature has expressed its concern that the national import control program not be changed so as to place direct federal control on the price of crude oil or reduce the price incentive for the search for needed domestic oil and gas reserves; and

Whereas, the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States House of Representatives has invited the testimony of Representatives of the Oklahoma Legislature on this subject; and

Whereas, it is in the best interest of this state that a committee be selected to prepare a statement and testify before this Congressional committee to express the sentiment of the Oklahoma Legislature on this matter of grave concern. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the 2nd session of the 32nd Oklahoma Legislature:

Section 1. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is hereby authorized to appoint a committee of five members of the House of Representatives to prepare a statement expressing the opposition of the Legislature to any change in the import control program which would have the effect of placing direct federal control on the price of crude oil or would reduce the price incentive for the research for needed domestic oil and gas reserves and to appear and testify before the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States House of Representatives on April 23 and 24, 1970, in Washington, D.C. Section 2. Reimbursement for necessary travel and expenses shall be paid by the House of Representatives, as provided by resolution. Adopted by the House of Representatives the 26th day of March, 1970. REX PRICES, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Correctly Enrolled :

JAMES B. BLOUNGEND,

Chairman, Committee on Engrossed and Enrolled Bills.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE

Received by the Secretary of State this 30th day of March, 1970, at 3:35 o'clock P.M.

JOHN ROGERS.

I would like to note further for the record that our very good friend and former colleague, the father of the chairman of this legislative committee, and also his mother, have just entered the committee chambers, and we are happy to welcome Congressman Lyle Boren and Mrs. Boren as a part of our fine audience before this presentation. At this time we will hear from the chairman, David Boren, of the Oklahoma legislative committee for the presentation. The complete statement will be placed in the record at the end of the oral testimony.

STATEMENT OF DAVID L. BOREN, OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE; ACCOMPANIED BY REPRESENTATIVE FRED BOETTCHER AND REPRESENTATIVE BARBOUR COX

Mr. BOREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Albert, and gentlemen of the committee.

We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to make a statement before this committee on a matter of such importance to our State.

As members of the Select Committee on Oil Imports of the Oklahoma Legislature, the main purpose of our attendance here today is the presentation of some factual information relevant to this committee's consideration of the Task Force Report on Oil Import Control.

This committee has been overwhelmed by the amassed material assembled germane to the close relationship between the oil industry and national security as well as the far-reaching national economic implications of the abandonment of an import quota system.

Despite numerous persuasive and valid national security and economic arguments which exist in support of the retention of the concept of a modified import quota system, we shall, instead, concentrate the thrust of our presentation on the specific problem of the adverse impact which the imposition of a tariff import system on foreign crude petroleum would have upon the economic well-being of our

State.

Of course, as members of the legislature with knowledge in this specific area we feel that we are most capable to speak to this specific point.

We will present our case with documented statistics, but it is also our hope that our concern as elected representatives of the people of the State of Oklahoma will add a human dimension to the data which our committee has compiled. This injection of reality into these proceedings will add a depth to our testimony which, we hope, will be useful to your committee in understanding all the aspects of the problem of oil import control and the economy of the State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma is an example of the impact it would have certainly on several other States.

Without exaggeration, we are here as members of our committee to talk about the economic survival of our State and the preservation of a decent standard of living for hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans.

THE ECONOMY OF OKLAHOMA AND THE OIL INDUSTRY

Oklahoma and the oil industry are closely intertwined. There are very few aspects of the economic, social, and cultural life in our State which the industry does not touch. I would like to cite a few statistics about the importance of the oil industry in Oklahoma.

Seventy-two of our 77 counties have some form of oil or gas production within their boundaries and 2.5 million acres of Oklahoma land have produced oil and/or gas.

Oklahoma's total of 80,979 oil wells produced for the first half of 1969 in the amount of 110,148,124 barrels of petroleum products which were valued at $336,773,260.

Oklahoma's total of 8,383 gas wells active in this same time period. produced and sold natural and casinghead gas in the volume of 903,939,980,000 cubic feet. This production was valued at $126,180,078.

The combined total amounted to $462,953,338 for all hydrocarbons products sold in the first 6 months of 1969. If we project these figures through the entire year, it is easily seen that Oklahoma's oil industry is a $1 billion a year enterprise.

But it is important to note that the term and often the accompanying stereotype of the "oil industry" is not necessarily synonymous with the operations of major oil companies. While the larger corporations are important, a large portion of the oil industry's production is conducted by smaller operators engaged in private enterprise not connected with any of the corporate giants in the field. In fact, stripper wells in the State, despite their smaller production per individual unit, provide 49 percent of the State's total average daily crude petroleum production.

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And I can point out, for example, in my home county, Seminole County, almost 85 percent of total oil production where by stripper wells and the vast majority of the oil operations are now carried on by family companies engaged. I would say that most of our production is carried out by companies and by servicing companies that have from five employees up to a maximum of 20. This is the vast majority, the greater part of our production in our county.

In the aggregate, this production involved 64,126 wells on 1,218,550 leased acres and an average daily production of 296,994 barrels of oil— that is the stripper wells.

To this major sector of our State's economy, the elimination of the concept of an import quota control program and the initiation of a tariff policy on imported foreign crude petroleum would do unmitigated economic damage to these small independent producers which are so important.

With the low average daily production of stripper wells, the devastating effect of a price cut could completely emasculate this segment of the Oklahoma oil industry. Of course, we call these wells "stripper wells" because the income derived and the low amount of production is very small in relationship to the cost, and the only reason why we are able to keep these wells in operation is that at some point in their history they have paid off. We now have only the lifting cost of bringing the oil to the surface, and it is only because they are able to keep costs at a bare minimum that it is practical for these wells to be in operation at all. They are very, very marginal, and yet we are talking about 49 percent of the total oil production in our State, so they are of very close margin as far as operating and profit is concerned.

Estimates by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission conclude that with the advent of cheap foreign crude petroleum, 50 percent of the stripper well operations in the State would be forced to shut down almost immediately and within 5 years of the introduction of such foreign oil, another 40 percent of the 64,126 stripper wells would also be abandoned. Not only would its economic implications be jolting to the State, but the cessation of the stripper well operations will allow the petroleum which is presently being produced to disperse into the geologic formation making future recovery prohibitively expensive.

In effect, halting these operations destroys 678 million barrels of crude petroleum by removing it from human availability, and we are talking about 678 million barrels in the State of Oklahoma alone.

The oil being produced by these stripper wells would be lost because it would no longer be profitable to operate them.

What are the implications of such shutdowns in Oklahoma? Turning to the summary guide to the Task Force Report on Oil Import Control, released by the Office of the White House Press Secretary, February 20, 1970, we note the following conclusion reached by the task force majority report as to the implications of such a policy.

Profits for many companies would, of course, be smaller at the lower price (the world oil price) until a new equilibrium out level was reached. Some investment in leases and facilities would be lost and future "rents" (lease bonuses, taxes, and royalties) would be reduced. Localized dislocations could be quite severe and certain segments of the industry would undoubtedly be injured with the consequent loss of State and local revenues.