Lewis criticizes special session

State Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, said he wouldn't announce until "probably" August who he'll support in the 2010 Texas governor's race, but he didn't sound too complimentary of incumbent Rick Perry and the special session he called that starts today.

"Maybe the governor will hear the call and make us work," Lewis said after a meeting of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association Tuesday evening at the Odessa Country Club. "It costs way too much money to have the legislature in session and not get its work done."

The legislature is expected to consider $2 billion in bond money, much of it for toll roads in East Texas during the session. It will also look at development agreements between the Texas Department of Transportation and local agencies.

But Lewis said he would have preferred to see the legislature face more long-term issues, such as sunset reviews of TxDOT and other state agencies. He sees the transportation department as bloated in its budget.

"TxDOT has all sorts of issues and problems that need to be addressed," he told the audience of more than 30 people. "I think the governor feels more in control if it's put off."

Overall, Lewis said his first session in Austin was reminiscent of "Seinfeld" -a show considered to be about nothing.

"I heard a longtime staffer say that every session has a theme," Lewis said. "And this session's theme was that it had no theme."

From a contentious contest for speaker to start the session to a slowdown due to a voter identification bill during the last two weeks when bills are supposed to come up for vote, he said the gathering was odd.

He talked about successes of passing legislation that would provide up to $100 million in franchise tax credits to the first three companies to build coal-burning power plants that successfully capture and sequester at least 70 percent of the carbon dioxide they produce. One of the proposed plants would be built in Ector County by Summit Power Group, a Bainbridge Island, Wash., company.

Lewis said Tuesday that the Summit plant would be built in two phases, each costing $2 billion. He is also trying to set a meeting with US Energy Secretary Steven Chu to discuss the project.

Lewis got favorable reviews from the petroleum association for his work in opposing bills that could have affected drilling in the Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth area, but he differed with its members on legislation that would have called for an advisory committee to be set up to help set an economic factor for mineral rights valuations for property tax purposes.

The legislation, which died in conference committee, was called for after the state comptroller's office set an economic factor of $35 per barrel of oil, which is more than $30 below its current value, for the upcoming fiscal year.

Ector County Judge Susan Redford has said the difference could cost the county $1.2 million in revenue.

Lewis had proposed legislation that would have set up an advisory committee made up of county government and appraisal district officials, as well as representatives from three statewide energy groups. Lewis said the group would come together and arrive at a value.

But the Permian Basin Petroleum Association wasn't among those represented. Ben Shepperd, petroleum association executive vice president, said it opposed the legislation because it allowed for too much uncertainty.

"The bill was open-ended," he said. "It did not tell the committee what facts it must consider in determining what factor to use."

He said it also came at a time when the industry was seeing its largest commodity price drop in 15 years. But he said the organization would continue to work with Lewis and others on a solution.

Shepperd said it was the first time in over a decade the petroleum association had held a meeting in Odessa. It was part of an effort by Shepperd and Taylor Mayne, the group's current president, to extend its reach beyond Midland.

"We have so many active Odessans and what we do is so important to the Odessa area and the entire Permian Basin," he said. "We just made it an issue of ours to do more meetings in Odessa and other communities."

The group is planning meetings in Andrews and Hobbs, N.M. later this summer. Shepperd said issues like President Barack Obama's emissions trading bill and a possible special session of New Mexico's state legislature would be featured at the gatherings.

"There's so many issues facing the oil and gas industry right now, we've just got to get the word out," he said.