SAN ANTONIO U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz told 200 members of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association at TIPRO’s Annual Summer Conference that President Biden’s unsuccessful nomination of ardent California environmentalist Ann Carlson to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was exemplary of Biden’s determination to wreck the energy industry.
“Ann Carlson’s past career and record revealed a clear agenda to go beyond NHTSA’s congressionally mandated mission on vehicle performance and safety standards to turn the agency into a climate change enforcement body,” Cruz told the conference at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort & Spa. “A coalition of 43 of the most influential oil and gas industry trade groups led to Carlson’s nomination being pulled by the White House in May.
“These kinds of senior regulators that the president is hoping to put into positions of power are likely to promulgate more radical and aggressive policies that would be harmful to America’s oil and gas industry and undermine national and energy security.”
After Gov. Greg Abbott’s keynote address, the governor ceremonially signed two bills sponsored by Odessa Rep. Brooks Landgraf, House Bill 33 and Senate Bill 1017, which he said “will protect the state’s oil and gas industry and support the hardworking Texans who power it.
“The men and women of the energy sector are the lifeblood of the booming Texas economy,” Abbott said. “We just finished another important legislative session for the Texas energy industry.
“We cut red tape so that needless local and county regulations don’t stifle economic growth, ensured that local governments couldn’t ban the use of gasoline engines, secured our power grid for the Texas of tomorrow and worked with community colleges to produce the skilled workforce that this industry needs to continue thriving.
“Here in Texas we embrace the energy industry and as long as I am governor I will fight for the energy sector to ensure that Texas remains America’s energy leader,” Abbott said.
Landgraf’s bills will become law on Sept. 1. He chairs the House Energy Regulations Committee.
House Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont reviewed the work of the 88th State Legislature and said a third special session will probably be called this fall on education issues.
Allen Gilmer of Austin, founder and former chairman-CEO of Enverus Inc., was named Mr. TIPRO. Enverus is a leading provider of cloud-based data, analytics software and intelligence for the oil and gas industry, TIPRO President Ed Longanecker said.
Other speakers during the Aug. 9-10 confab were Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, EnerVest President-CEO Jud Walker of Houston, Earthstone Energy President-CEO Robert Anderson of The Woodlands, Jonah Energy President-CEO Thomas Hart of Denver, Colo., Raymond James Co. Head of Energy Marshall Adkins of Houston, NGP Energy Capital Partner Patrick McWilliams of Irving and Pickering Energy Partners President Walker Moody of Houston.
