ATLAS
AMERICA, INC.
August
14, 2008
Mr.
H.
Christopher Owings
Assistant
Director
Division
of Corporation Finance
Mail
Stop
3651
United
States Securities and
Exchange
Commission
100
F
Street, N.E.
Washington,
D.C. 20549
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Re: |
Atlas
America, Inc.
Form
10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007
Filed
February 29, 2008
Form
10-Q for Quarter Ended March 31, 2008
Filed
May 9, 2008
File
No. 1-32169
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A
copy of
this letter has been furnished through EDGAR as correspondence.
This
letter sets forth the Registrant’s responses to the comments and requests for
additional information of the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance
(the
“Staff”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) in its
comment letter dated August 5, 2008 (the “Comment Letter”). For your
convenience, the comments and requests for additional information provided
by
the Staff have been repeated in bold type exactly as set forth in the comment
letter. The Registrant’s response to each comment and request is set forth
immediately below the text of the applicable comment or request.
Form
10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007
Item
7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations, page 62
Overview
of Years Ended December 31, 2007 and 2006, Three Months Ended December 31,
2005
and Year Ended September 30, 2005, page 62
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1.
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We
note your response to comments 3 and 4 in our letter dated June 2,
2008.
As requested, please explain to us in sufficient detail how you intend
to
comply with our comments. In this regard, please provide us with
the
disclosure format and general disclosure proposed to address our
comment
(as you provided in response to other
comments).
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Mr.
H. Christopher Owings
Page
2
Response:
The
Registrant has added the following disclosure to its Management’s Discussion and
Analysis in its Form 10Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 and will in the
future address this area in a similar manner, with respect to your prior comment
3:
Off
Balance Sheet Arrangements
As
of
June 30, 2008, our off balance sheet arrangements are limited to ATN’s guarantee
of Crown Drilling of Pennsylvania, LLC’s $3.6 million credit agreement, APL’s
letters of credit outstanding of $22.0 million and our commitments to expend
approximately $158.6 million on capital projects. In addition, we are committed
to invest a total of $20.0 million in Lightfoot, of which $10.7 million has
been
invested as of June 30, 2008.
Response:
The
Registrant has added the following disclosure to its Management’s Discussion and
Analysis in its Form 10Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 and will in the
future address this area in a similar manner, with respect to your prior comment
4:
Recent
Trends and Uncertainties
Atlas
Energy. Realized pricing of ATN’s oil and natural gas production is primarily
driven by the prevailing worldwide prices for crude oil and spot market prices
applicable to United States natural gas production. Pricing for natural gas
and oil production has been volatile and unpredictable for many
years. Significant factors that may impact future commodity prices include
developments in the issues currently impacting Iraq and Iran and the Middle
East
in general; the extent to which members of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries and other oil exporting nations are able to continue to
manage oil supply through export quotas; and overall North American gas supply
and demand fundamentals, including the impact of increasing liquefied natural
gas deliveries to the United States. Although we cannot predict the occurrence
of events that will affect future commodity prices or the degree to which these
prices will be affected, the prices for commodities that we produce will
generally approximate market prices in the geographic region of the production.
In order to address, in part, volatility in commodity prices, ATN has
implemented a hedging program that is intended to reduce the volatility in
its
revenues. This program mitigates, but does not eliminate, ATN’s sensitivity to
short-term changes in commodity prices. See Item 3, “Quantitative and
Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk”.
We
believe that current natural gas prices will continue to cause relatively high
levels of natural gas-related drilling in the United States as producers seek
to
increase their level of natural gas production. Although the number of natural
gas wells drilled in the United States has increased overall in recent years,
a
corresponding increase in production has not been realized, primarily as a
result of smaller discoveries and the decline in production from existing wells.
We believe that an increase in United States drilling activity, additional
sources of supply such as liquefied natural gas, and imports of natural gas
will
be required for the natural gas industry to meet the expected increased demand
for, and to compensate for the slowing production of, natural gas in the United
States. The areas in which ATN operates are experiencing significant drilling
activity as a result of recent high natural gas prices, new increased drilling
for deeper natural gas formations and the implementation of new exploration
and
production techniques.
Mr.
H. Christopher Owings
Page
3
While
we anticipate continued high levels of exploration and production activities
in
the areas in which ATN operates, fluctuations in energy prices can greatly
affect production rates and investments by third parties in the development
of
new natural gas reserves. Drilling activity generally decreases as natural
gas
prices decrease. We have no control over the level of drilling activity in
the
areas of ATN’s operations.
Atlas
Pipeline. The midstream natural gas industry links the exploration and
production of natural gas and the delivery of its components to end-use markets
and provides natural gas gathering, compression, dehydration, treating,
conditioning, processing, fractionation and transportation services. This
industry group is generally characterized by regional competition based on
the
proximity of gathering systems and processing plants to natural gas producing
wells.
APL
faces competition for natural gas transportation and in obtaining natural gas
supplies for its processing and related services operations. Competition for
natural gas supplies is based primarily on the location of gas-gathering
facilities and gas-processing plants, operating efficiency and reliability,
and
the ability to obtain a satisfactory price for products recovered. Competition
for customers is based primarily on price, delivery capabilities, flexibility,
and maintenance of high-quality customer relationships. Many of APL’s
competitors operate as master limited partnerships and enjoy a cost of capital
comparable to and, in some cases lower than, APL. Other competitors, such as
major oil and gas and pipeline companies, have capital resources and control
supplies of natural gas substantially greater than APL. Smaller local
distributors may enjoy a marketing advantage in their immediate service areas.
We believe the primary difference between APL and some of its competitors is
that APL provides an integrated and responsive package of midstream services,
while some of its competitors provide only certain services. We believe that
offering an integrated package of services, while remaining flexible in the
types of contractual arrangements that APL offers producers, allows APL to
compete more effectively for new natural gas supplies in its regions of
operations.
As
a
result of APL’s POP and keep-whole contracts, its results of operations and
financial condition substantially depend upon the price of natural gas and
NGLs.
We believe that future natural gas prices will be influenced by supply
deliverability, the severity of winter and summer weather and the level of
United States economic growth. Based on historical trends, we generally expect
NGL prices to follow changes in crude oil prices over the long term, which
we
believe will in large part be determined by the level of production from major
crude oil exporting countries and the demand generated by growth in the world
economy. The number of active oil and gas rigs has increased in recent years,
mainly due to recent significant increases in natural gas prices, which could
result in sustained increases in drilling activity during the current and future
periods. However, energy market uncertainty could negatively impact North
American drilling activity in the short term. Lower drilling levels over a
sustained period would have a negative effect on natural gas volumes gathered
and processed.
Mr.
H. Christopher Owings
Page
4
Part
III, Page 150
Item
10. Directors and Officers of the Registrant, page 150
Code
of Ethics, page 152
| 2. |
We
note your response to comment 12 of our letter dated June 2, 2008.
On the
page with the text, “Investor Relations—Newly Revised and Now Regularly
Updated! —Click here to review the newly revised and dynamically updated
Atlas America Investor Relations section,” the hyperlinks at left worked,
but when we clicked to review the newly revised and dynamically updated
Atlas America Investor Relations section, we were led to a page where
the
same set of hyperlinks at left did not work. Here is the address
of the
latter webpage:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix/zhtm1?c=176445&p=irol-irhome. In
other words, there currently are two ways to access your corporate
governance documents on your website, but one of the ways does not
work.
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Response:
Please
be advised that we have corrected the technical problem with the hyperlinks
located at the left of the web page after the following text is clicked, “Click
here to review the newly revised and dynamically updated Atlas America Investor
Relations section.” Both ways of accessing our corporate governance documents on
our website are now operational.
Item
13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, page
170
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3.
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We
note your responses to comments 19 and 20 of our letter dated June
2,
2008. Please also indicate whether the board or one of its committees
is
also required to approve all related person transactions, as opposed
to
simply reviewing them. Also indicate how your policy and compliance
with
your policy is evidenced. See Item 404(b) of Regulation
S-K.
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Response:
In
future filings, the Registrant will indicate whether the board or one of its
committees is also required to approve all related person transactions, as
opposed to simply reviewing them. The Registrant will also indicate how its
policy and compliance with its policy is evidenced. The disclosure will be
similar to the following:
We
do
not have a separate written policy with respect to transactions with related
persons that are required to be disclosed in proxy statements by SEC
regulations. However, consistent with our code of business conduct and ethics,
our policy is to have our board of directors or one of its committees consisting
solely of independent directors approve all related party transactions. In
approving any related person transaction, the board or committee must determine
that the transaction is fair and reasonable to us. All persons performing
services for us are required by our code of business conduct and ethics to
report a potential conflict of interest, initially to their immediate
supervisor.
Mr.
H. Christopher Owings
Page
5
If
you
have any questions or comments regarding this letter, please contact Nancy
J.
McGurk, Chief Accounting Officer, at (330) 896-8510, ext. 201 or Lisa
Washington, Chief Legal Officer, at (215) 717-3387.
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Very
truly yours,
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Atlas
America, Inc.
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By:
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/s/
Nancy J. McGurk |
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Name:
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Nancy
J. McGurk
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Title:
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Chief Accounting
Officer |
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