How would you feel if you knew that 10 cents of every dollar of U.S. discretionary spending (non-defense) came from the oil and gas industry’s taxes paid to the federal Treasury? Kind of impressive, right?

Turns out the oil and gas industry paid some $35.7 billion in corporate income taxes in 2009 (the latest year for which data are available), according to the Energy Information Administration. Lots more tax revenue will flow if the industry continues on its current path, uncovering yet more treasure from old oil and gas fields made new.

While the Obama administration likes to take credit for the oil and gas revival now taking place (so convenient for a reelection campaign, and offsetting voters’ rising anger over gasoline prices), we know the real truth: it is those free-enterprise, capitalist engineers e-mailing furiously from Midland, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Pittsburgh, Williston.

What’s ahead? Remarkable unanimity rained down from the podium at IHS CERAWeek last month in Houston. CEO after CEO—from ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Statoil, Apache, Anadarko Petroleum, QEP Resources, Baker Hughes, Dow Chemical, GE and on and on—spoke in a similar voice. Each said the shale-gas and oil-production resurgence are huge unexpected gifts from above. They are due to advanced technologies that will sweep new production out of all the world’s hydrocarbon basins.

IHS now expects output from tight oil alone to reach 3 million barrels per day by 2020, a bit more than the production of Iraq today. World-class deepwater finds are coming on strong too.

“The U.S. has become an island, in terms of natural gas self-sufficiency,” said Paolo Scaroni, CEO of Eni.

“The world is changing before our eyes. America is blessed with natural gas,” said Leonid Bokhanovskiy, secretary general of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which held its first gas summit last November in Doha, Qatar. “Natural gas will play a bigger role in years to come.”

This revolutionary opportunity must not—cannot—be squandered.

Each speaker urged the industry to ensure this revolution unfolds in the right way, the safe way. They told E&P companies to communicate much more openly and more often with landowners, testy and skeptical media types, and local government agencies grappling with rapid change in their towns and villages. The constant watchwords: Disclosure, safety, transparency, community relations, education.

A seminal, once-in-a generation opportunity is here for the taking. Remarkable changes are under way, but problems need to be solved, and fast.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich was a highlight for me. Passionate and never mincing words, he told the IHS CERAWeek audience that he once told some Ohio state officials on a particular issue, “Are you kidding me? It doesn’t take a college degree to figure this out, and what’s more, you all have college degrees. So make a decision already!”

Kasich, for one, has been busy deciding. At press time he unveiled a “comprehensive energy strategy” for Ohio. It includes imposing a new fee of $25,000 per well, payable to local governments. He will try to increase severance taxes on the E&P industry that could reach 4%—generating an estimated $1 billion by 2016. He will use the proceeds to offer Ohioans an income tax cut. He wants to mandate disclosure of frac chemicals and impose new regulations on gas gathering as well.

Like most governors, he welcomes the oil and gas industry to the state for the jobs and the revenue it can create. But he wants this to unfold in the right way. “This is the Lord’s creation. It is not to be abused, and not to be worshipped either. We need to have this industry and help our families climb out of poverty. We have lots of trucks on the roads in southeastern Ohio. We see lots of crowded restaurants. We like it. We’re doing the best we can…we welcome the frenzy.

“But I don’t want the federal government in the middle of this. We can handle it. In anything we do in life, there can be accidents, but let’s not have an accident out of neglect or our own mistakes. We’ve looked at Pennsylvania. We’ve looked at New York. I’ve talked to North Dakota. They’ve been very forthcoming with us.”

Kasich recognizes the importance of energy, but he said he is already thinking about what else he can do, so Ohio’s future economic strength doesn’t rest on any one thing.

Low natural gas prices are not stopping us, nor most E&P companies, from charging ahead. They aren’t stopping the 7th annual DUG Conference & Exhibition either. So, please join us in Fort Worth April 23-25 to learn what’s new, what’s next and how we will move forward with surging U.S. oil and gas production. And on May 14-16, come to Denver for our third annual DUO, Developing Unconventional Oils. Finally, join us for our newest event, DUG-Canada, in Calgary, June 18-20. It’s time to fully explore the unconventional Maple Leaf opportunity set there!

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