Katharine Steele
GEOG 3443 Midterm
October 19, 2014

OERB: A Goal Towards Energy Independence Fueled by Oil and Gas Alone

The OERB or Oklahoma Energy Resource Board is a group that provides information about the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma, but that is also funded by the producers and stakeholders themselves. The discourse provided per their website implies that the oil and gas industry is safe, responsible, and necessary for economic progress in our state. The narrative of the OERB's discourse is a triumphant story of the oil and natural gas industry in Oklahoma. It also seems to be a slightly overdone or obvious PR program. First, the website tells the reader that "our future started in 1897," when our "first commercially profitable well christened our state for greatness." The idea of oil and gas as the future is important for them. Many argue that these practices may endanger our future (by polluting the environment, etc.), so it is critical for them to highlight what oil and gas can bring to the table of the future -- money and jobs. This also shows the building of a particular worldview in Oklahoma, where the states value or importance comes from what it can give us economically instead of perhaps the state's intrinsic value in the natural beauty of the environment or the services of healthy ecosystems. This page shows the view of nature as a commodity to be bought and sold as well. Also in this narrative we see the OERB saying that the reason for past "slumps" in the oil and gas industry were caused by excessive regulation. They also remind us of the Arab Oil Embargo against the United States (among others), and the importance of not relying on foreign oil. The OERB repeats that it was created for the cleanup of well sites around Oklahoma, which concretes viewers' idea that they care for the land. The OERB tells us that the oil and gas industry