From "Oil industry faring better with Bush in White House", via the Odessa (TX) American:

The business and political climate is the best it’s been in years for the oil and gas industry, and some area producers appear to be well positioned to help make things even better.

The ascendancy three years ago of former Midland independent producer George W. Bush to the presidency ... gave producers a much greater say in the policies and politics that affect them, said Jim Henry, chairman of the Midland independent oil and gas firm Henry Petroleum.

Former President George H.W. Bush “was not an advocate for the industry,” Henry said. “His son is an unabashed advocate.”

That was particularly true when the federal government’s stricter stormwater-runoff regulations went into effect in July.

The new standards, implemented to protect drinking water and freshwater supplies from pollution, stripped the oil and gas industry’s long-standing exemption from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. For the first time, producers would have to obtain stormwater permits before they could develop a new oil and gas lease.

...[A] group of oil and gas executives from Midland, including Doug Robison, general counsel of Henry Petroleum, flew to Washington to meet with representatives of the administration to “talk to them about the serious impact these changes would have on oil and gas operation,” Landreth said.

“And we were able to accomplish a change of direction at the last minute,” he said.