"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...

Do your energy companies have to abide by more and more, or less and less
environmental regulation? Is it easier or harder to drill now than it was
back 30 or so years ago?

These don't seem like useful comparisons. Many environmental regulations
came about because of eggregious pollution cases so some of the regulation
is due to their own irresponsibility in the past. I do not believe the
present corporate quarterly-results-driven culture would do much better.
Also, the push to enact legislation limiting their liability makes it look
like they want the profits without the responsibility.

There is virtually no industry which is not more regulated than it was in
the past. This is a fact of life in virtually every country. You can spend
your life complaining about and fighting it or you can adapt and deal with
it. It is left as an exercise to the reader as to which one will work out
better for you.