[7] The interstate compact was seen as an alternative to direct federal regulation that would allow oil producing states to retain more control.

On December 3, 1934, Oklahoma Governor-elect E. W. Marland met with the governors of Kansas and Texas to discuss an interstate compact.

The compact did not provide for any resources to support IOGCC; a later bylaw stipulated that its expenses would be paid "from voluntary contributions from the member states and other sources of revenue approved by the Commission".

It catalogues innovative programs and shares the information with states, and it hosts biannual meetings that draw together representatives from the government, the oil industry and environmentalists.

[25] Issues that IOGCC has worked on include national energy policy, carbon sequestration, environmental stewardship, hydraulic fracturing and produced water.

According to the legal scholar Blakely Murphy, the commission operated under the guise of resource conservation but primarily existed to protect the interests of oil producers.

[27] A large part of the human contribution to global warming is from the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result of burning fossil fuels.

[28] One way to reduce the contribution is to capture the CO2 before it enters the atmosphere and sequester it by injecting underground in depleted oil and natural gas fields, saline formations and coal beds.

In phase II, started in 2006, the task force prepared a report that included a model statute for the states with explanations on how to implement it.