SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

GROUP ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

STUDENT DETAILS

Student ID
Student name: Khanh Nguyen number: 20047564

Student ID
Student name: Pelin Okul number: 19281403

Student ID
Student name: Rick Fan number: 18959840

Student ID
Student name: Ethan Hollis number: 19881980

UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS

Unit
Unit name: Business, Society, and Policy number: 200158

Class day and

Tutorial/Lecture: Tutorial time: Friday (3PM–5PM)

Lecturer or Tutor name: Sheela Sree Kumar

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Case Study – Gas or Grouse

Date
Length: 2500 words Due date: May 8th, 2020 submitted: May 7th, 2020

Home campus (where you are enrolled): Parramatta City

DECLARATION

I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged.

I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s
 work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment.

I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another
(previous or current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior
permission from the Lecturer / Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.

No part of the assignment/product has been written/produced for me by any other person except
where collaboration has been authorised by the Lecturer / Tutor /Unit Coordinator concerned.

I am aware that this work will be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs
for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism (which may retain a copy on its database for future
plagiarism checking).

Student’s signature: Khanh Nguyen

Student’s signature: Pelin Okul

Student’s signature: Rick Fan

Student’s signature: Ethan Hollis

Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above declaration has
not been signed.

Group member details Responsibilities Signature

Khanh Nguyen _ Part 1: Introduction Khanh Nguyen
_ Part 5: Proposed solution to manage
conflicts and issues
Pelin Okul _ Part 2: Analyse and discuss the actions Pelin Okul
and ideologies of B,S,G
_ Part 6: Draw a conclusion
Rick Fan _ Part 4: Analyse the various stakeholder Rick Fan
interests and identify the conflicts among
them
Ethan Hollis _ Part 3: Identify and analyse the key issues Ethan Hollis
raised in the case
 A summary of team process

Our group is working on the case study of Gas or Grouse. The problem statement is
emphasis on the systemic, corporate, and ethical issues caused by Questar and its
stakeholders. Every member of the group was required to put their sides on the whole
process of problem definition and ideation to assess the degree of correlation between
wildlife and business, government, and society. Finally, we together structured the report
and assigned each person’s responsibility as well as due for work collection.
We agreed that the group conversation was held through messenger, google doc, email. At
the same time, the discussion was mainly completed through ZOOM 1-2 times a week due
to COVID-19. The group meetings are acceptable when the reason is valid such as
emergency; on the other hand, they are not acceptable when the aim is for leisure or
different needs of entertainment. What’s more, if a group member misses one or two
meetings, it does not matter. However, this member repeats many times who will be followed
up with needing a valid reason and emailed to the tutor. Besides, he or she must be notified
on all platforms of communication followed by an email to tutor if a group member is not
doing their share of the work. Most importantly, all tasks are completed on google docs
allowing us to maintain and track each individual’s performance and contribution to the
document. Lastly, the resolution is attempted firstly by a group meeting to discuss flaws. The
tutor will be required to participate in when the team is unable to come to a decision or when
team members are unresponsive.

1.Introduction:
The primary objective of this paper revolves around analyzing the various systemic,
corporate, and ethical problems caused by the Questar Natural Gas-Focused Energy
Corporation on the Pinedale Mesa. The Pinedale Mesa is a natural land stretching from
north to south of the eastern side of Wyoming's Green River Basin. This area is well-known
for the home to thousands of indigenous species as well as the gate to hunting, fishing, and
hiking. Due to the urgent demand for the fuel supply to economic activities, the U.S
government has allowed Questar's drilling operations and contributed to damage the
ecological system on Pinedale Mesa. Thus, the report is implemented to verify the social and
ethical correlation of Business, Society, and Government in balancing the value of wildlife
species and economic interests.
2. Actions and ideologies
2.1.Business ideologies
The doctrines of businesses in the energy sector regarding the energy that is utilized from
natural gas were based on the capitalist ideology of classical liberalism. As classical
liberalism promotes the freedom of individual and private property as they are seen as
essential for economic success, and it rejects interference from the Government as they
believe markets should be self-regulated by actions of rational economic actors (Fan 2015).
This also brings in the ideology of economic rationalism, which again promotes rationality in
free choice and rejects government interference (Fan 2015). Questar wanted to profit from
the natural gas resources under the Pinedale Masa through drilling wells. However, soon
after the Questar Corporation started drilling these wells, the environmentalists protested
against this as they claimed that this process on the Mesa would have negative impacts on
the wildlife such as the Elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, and possible extinction of the
sage grouse. Gas drilling threatened the sage grouse, and this became a major ethical issue
for Questar as all its efforts to mitigate the impact on the sage grouse were unsuccessful. In
order for the sage grouse to be safe, the sage grouse needed to be protected from all effects
of oil and gas drilling. Consequently, the overall major ethical issue was if the Business
should keep drilling to make a lucrative profit or consider other living things within that
environment. In addition to these ethical factors, Questar also had social responsibility
towards the society in terms of residents living in the Wyoming area since operating on the
Mesa to drill these natural gas wells would have opened a great deal of job opportunity for
individuals in that area which makes the Society in Wyoming a great stakeholder as well as
the Government that owns the land.
2.2.Government ideologies
The ideologies of the Government in this situation would be Keynesianism as they are a
stakeholder of Questar since they own the land which the Mesa is on. The thinking of
Keynesianism allows government interference not only to manage the economy and
redistribute the income fairly but also to make sure the process is ethical in terms of the
environment and habitats surrounding the Mesa being maintained and unharmed (Fan
2015). Furthermore, since the Government is a stakeholder of this situation, it does benefit
from the drilling of the natural gas wells since it increases tax revenues, and the local
economy in Wyoming thrives. Most importantly this system reduces the need to import
energy supplies from other countries, so overall the Government benefits a lot from this
situation which is why they have the ideology of Keynesianism as they do interfere with the
case to make it happened ethically without damaging the natural environment around it,
through government regulation.
2.3.Society ideologies
The ideology of the Society regarding the natural gas well drilling is a modern liberal
ideology. The current progressive thinking, unlike classical liberalism, believes that the
Government should still interfere to some extent to make the situation fair and ethical
(Vanberg, 2014). Since the Society in the Wyoming area welcomed the drilling activity
because it benefited them in terms of increased job opportunities, grew tax revenues, and
thrived the local economy. The Society had a modern liberal ideology because they believed
the natural gas drilling should happen to benefit the Government, Business and the
community within Wyoming area however this should happen without negatively impacting
the natural environment such as the extinction of the sage grouse which is why they have a
modern liberal ideology as they believe the Government should interfere with keeping the
environment and its inhabitants such as the sage grouse safe.
3. Identify and analyze the critical issues raised in the case:
Initially, the systemic problems should be recommended as the first key issue raised in the
situation. The systemic effects are whether the Government should be acting to preserve the
wildlife on the top of Mesa. In terms of economic problems, the allowance to Questar's
drilling operations is highly likely to keep the unemployment rate low, to increase tax and
royalty revenue to the Government, and to prompt local economy booming. One of the most
overwhelming benefits is to resolve political-social-legal issues. The U.S fuel industry does
not have over-reliance on oversea energy sources, which enhances international political
competitive position. However, satisfying those successes is inevitable to face tradeoffs, for
example, environmental disputes. The most critical impact is that declining numerous wildlife
species such as Sage Grouse, Mule Deer, and Pronghorn Antelope are severe because of
gas exploitation and manufacturing activity. Though, natural gas is more environmentally
friendly than traditional energies like coal, petroleum, and oil.
Simultaneously, building infrastructures for transportation or storage leads to the devastation
of Pinedale Mesa Landscape ecologically and aesthetically. The fact is that the drilling pad
needs a massive room to support the drilling rig and other equipment. Access roads, piping
networks, and tanker truck traffic have adverse effects on wildlife habitats in terms of
migration, eating as well as mating. Besides, the application of directional drilling and new
technology in various operational process mitigates the sufferings to the environment in the
region but also improve the production efficiency. However, the most significant concern is
Questar's financial challenges. The consistency of production would be postponed in the
winter month, which is costly when re-starting business activity. Moreover, the accrual costs
for inefficiency due to seasonal interruption activity or new technology are the top threat to
Questar's budget operation. 
Most importantly, environmentalists are at war with Questar to convince the Government of
whether to conserve the wildlife population. Both Jim Sims and Dru Bower, who are
Questar's negotiator and vice president of the petroleum association in Wyoming, have the
same mindset that the oil and gas industry would be in danger if the species at Pinedale
Mesa were put in "endangered species list." If so, the Government takes action to reduce
operational scales, which impact on their growth in an unpredictable way.
4.Stakeholder interest and conflicts
In this case, the energy companies ignored warnings from environmentalists and went
ahead with the construction of Wells while drilling for the gas they had acquired in the
Pinedale Mesa region. The gas Wells that Questar and other energy companies have built-in
Pinedale Mesa are cheap to make and highly profitable but are constrained by the Bureau of
Land Management's need to protect local habitats. So Questar and other energy companies
set up a research group to lobby Mr. Bush's staff to remove animals such as the sage
grouse from the endangered list in order to get more gas from the Pinedale Mesa. After the
failure, Questar proposed plans for new drilling and construction of pipelines to reduce the
use of transport vehicles, while Questar and other energy companies applied to the Bureau
of Land Management to lift the cap on the number of Wells they can build and the
restrictions on their winter drilling. After a lengthy investigation by the Bureau of Land
Management, Questar and other energy companies were granted the right to build Wells in
the winter and were allowed to add 4,399 new Wells, but had to set up a $4.2 million local
animal protection fund and pay $7,500 a year to the local animal protection fund for each
well drilled.
On the other hand, the Bureau of Land Management has done a lot to protect local life and
the environment while responding to the uncontrolled drilling by Questar and other energy
companies in Pinedale Mesa. Before allowing Questar and other energy companies to
extract natural gas from the Pinedale Mesa area, the Bureau of Land Management
completed and issued an environmental impact report to demonstrate that the controlled
extraction of natural gas is environmentally sound. The Bureau of Land Management has
imposed significant restrictions on Questar's and other energy companies' processes for
natural gas extraction. During the breeding season, Questar's roads, Wells, and other
buildings must be located a quarter mile or more from the grouse breeding grounds and at
least two miles from the nesting sites. In the meantime, Questar must stop drilling during the
winter (Nov. 15 to May 1) but allow vehicles to operate in areas where animals are moving.
In 2008, after five years of research, the Bureau of Land Management found that existing
mining and transportation methods had an impact on animal habitats, so the Bureau of Land
Management conditionally allowed Questar and other energy companies to adopt new
mining and transportation methods to protect local wildlife habitats.
For local wildlife, commercial gas extraction by Questar and other energy companies in the
Pinedale Mesa region has severely affected their habitat, so much, so that mule deer and
pronghorn antelope migrate during the winter to Grand Teton National Park, 170 miles north
of Pinedale Mesa. The Pinedale Mesa habitat of the endangered species has been
devastated by natural gas extraction, and in 2016 the BirdLife International (2016) stated
that the Sage Grouse was listed as "near threatened" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species 2016.
This case involves the interests and conflicts of several different stakeholders, who
represent different parts of the BSP triangle in this case; Energy companies represent
Business. They destroy the local ecological environment in order to gain more profits on the
way of extracting natural gas. Meanwhile, in order to get more exploration opportunities,
energy companies use various means to persuade the Government. The Bureau of Land
Management represents Policy, which not only gains more benefits for the Government, but
also takes actions for biodiversity and environmental protection in the Pinedale Mesa region.
It has taken the initiative to formulate regulations to protect local wildlife, forcing energy
companies to extract natural gas and reduce the impact on the habitat of local wildlife.
Pinedale region of wild animals, in this case, is Society, their living environment is affected
by the natural gas energy companies are mining, their habitats and range gradually under
the influence of the mine, caused the most wildlife survival rate dropped significantly, some
wild animals even suffered a devastating blow.
5.Proposed solutions to manage conflicts and issues:
Quester began evolving the entire gas extraction process in 2004 by offering a new kind of
drilling rig technology called directional drilling to BLM. The principal objective is to reconcile
the benefits of wildlife habitat and human-beings regarding economics. The bid of directional
drilling aims to minimize the land captured by the wells as well as to cut down the vast area
for routes and distribution pipes. With the sophistication of advanced equipment, it also
protects indigenous creatures from high risks of drilling impacts on their living place, for
example, noise pollution or harmful waste liquid released by the progress of gas extraction.
On the other side, directional drilling brings a massive amount of economic value, as
Questar can eliminate the interrupt of manufacturing activity in winter months that the
company will shorten the time of the complete project in half. As a result, after five-year
conduct, BLM certified that there were no hostile consequences to deer's range from the
drilling and licensed Questar's gas production on Mesa. And then, the Upper Green Valley
Coalition filed a suit BLM for breaking its regulations when granting the permits to work on
mule deer range in a sensitive time and for failing to overall consider the potential danger.
To effectively monitor the conflicts and challenges, Questar and its stakeholders should
make CSR closer to the center of business decision-making, which helps them not to be a
blind eye in natural resources' great benefits and to be more aware of the equilibrium of
personal interests and ecosystem. The stakeholder engagement, including governments, is
viewed as a possible solution for risk management. The interactions among such key
components would bring more considerable attention to social and environmental issues.
That does not mean that all conflicts and challenges are likely to be resolved thoroughly.
This approach motivates the sustainability of development, but it is insufficient to mitigate
reputational as well as liability risks. More importantly, it ensures Questar and its
stakeholders to have better opportunities to build up productive relationships with local anti-
groups and others who are trying to oppose the company. So, the growth and investments in
socially responsible behavior can be accomplished positive returns-at least, over the long
run. 
Another potential alternative to keep obstacles from a socially responsible perspective not
out of control is embracing extra-legal "Standards," such as the ISO 14000 environmental
management system. For the methodology, the mechanism obligates the company to
assimilate environmental disputes into its business decision-making with the absence of
governmental regulatory standards. When ISO 14000 is applicable, Questar and its
stakeholders will be able to assess and manage risks in the most comprehensive way,
exceptionally positive or negative influences on the habitat surrounding its constructions. 
Finally, partnering with Society and Government is considered the best way to raise new
standards for tackling both social and environmental challenges without the need for legal
measures. The EITI Principles, approved by the program's participants in June 2003, stated
that the activity of mining and drilling natural resources should be parallel with the
sustainability of economic and environmental development. If handled properly, it will
generate positive effects on both two sides. Besides, the Voluntary Principles on Security
and Human Rights (VPSHR) verified in 2000 that a handful of governments, companies, and
NGOs discussed and developed a group of non-biding principles, which aims to answer the
question of how to stabilize safety needs and prevent the destruction to nature, but though
open job opportunities for the communities. The duties of the oil and gas industry are as
challenging as it is technically complex because they must be serving a steady and constant
worldwide demand for their products. In the field of the oil and gas industry, Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) ensures companies like Questar to get a greater focus on the welfare
of stakeholders and their environmental and social legacy in the regions they do Business.

6. conclusion 
Questar Natural Gas-Focused Energy Corporation has caused various systematic corporate
and ethical problems to the Pinedale Mesa. It has caused damage to the ecological system
on the Pinedale Mesa, which has compromised the value of wildlife species for the economic
interests of the business and government. To manage this conflict, the best solution would
be for Questar to take corporate social responsibility into account when making business
decisions. This will allow more awareness of the natural ecosystem. As well as these extra-
legal standards, such as ISO 14000 environmental management system, would be
appropriate to manage this conflict and to manage the risks most comprehensively.
Additionally, Business, Society, and the Government must work together to create new
standards to overcome these social and environmental challenges without needing to
involve legal action.   
7. References:
BirdLife International 2016, Centrocercus urophasianus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species 2016: e.T22679503A92816586, Viewed 03 May
2020,<https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679503A92816586.en> 
David B. S. (2011), Corporate Social Responsibility in the Oild and Gas Industry: The
importance of Reputational Risk, 86 Chi.-Kent L. Rev.59, available from
https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cklawreview/vol86/iss1/4
The Principles: Introduction, VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLES ON SEC. AND HUMAN RIGHTS,
viewed on April 12th, 2020, available from
http://www.voluntaryprinciples.org/principles/introduction
For the list of supporters of EITI, see EITI Fact Sheet, EXTRACTIVE INDUS.
TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE, viewed on April 12th, 2020, available from
http://eiti.org/files/2010-07-19%20EITI%20Fact/o20Sheet.pdf
The oil and gas companies include BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil,
Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Shell, StatoilHydro, and Talisman Energy. The NGOs
include Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Human Rights Watch. Fact Sheet, VOLUNTARY
PRINCIPLES ON SEC. & HUMAN RIGHTS, viewed on April 12th, 2020, available from
http://www.voluntaryprinciples.org/files/VPs-FactSheetJune2010_US.pdf
Fan, Q 2015, Business, Society and Policy, 3re edn, Pearson Australia, Sydney, Australia.
Vanberg, V 2014, James M. Buchanan’s contractarianism and modern liberalism.
Constitutional Political Economy, Vol.25, viewed on April 27th 2020, available from                           
https://doi-org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1007/s10602-014-9152-4