Railroad Commissioner - Jim Wright

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the nationally syndicated Energy Mix Radio Show, produced
by the Energy Network Media Group. The Energy Mix Radio
Show will give you an inside look at the energy
industry and how it affects you by talking with industry leaders, experts,
and government officials on the Energy Mix Radio Show.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
And Welcome to another exciting episode of the Energy Mix
Radio Show where we dive deep into the world of
energy innovation and people driving change. I'm your host, Kimbalatto,
and today I have a special guest joining me. Please
welcome Jim Wright, Commissioner of the Texas Railroad Commission one, and.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Kim, thank you for having me on today. It's always
a really big pleasure for me to be able to
come on your shows and talk about issues we're having
in with all and gas industry and other things that
you know.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
I say this often and I want to continue to
say it.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Your program and the efforts you put out to try
to promote our all on gas and making our economic
engineer in Texas more successful as has been outstanding. I mean,
I I cannot applaud you enough for the things you
try to strive to do for us. And to also
let you know that I'm always here. It's always an
honored participant in your programs.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
They're very informative.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
I think that's good for our people to have someone
like you that's putting facts out there about what surrounds
and are involves our on gas industry.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank you, Commissioner Right. We do take a lot of
pride in trying to bring the most informative information on
how important oil and gas is to the future of Texas.
And there is no other or it's probably one of
the most important agencies is the Texas Railroad Commission. And
even though it's named that you all regulate almost everything
pertaining to oil and gas outside of a few other agencies,

(01:48):
but by far, the Texas Railroad Commission is the most
important to ensure that we have a strong and prosperous
oil and gas economy that actually reflects how good Texas
is doing as well. So it's important. So thank you
for saying that now, Commissioner Right, you have been a
very pivotal figure in shaping Texas energy landscape, and so

(02:10):
I'm thrilled to have you today and today's show I
hope to explore what is the future of energy here
in Texas. Hopefully we can get up to speed on
what the Railroad Commission is working on, and do a
little bit of coverage on the eighty ninth Texas Legislative
Session as it pertains to the oil and gas industry.
But first, tell me a little bit about your journey.

(02:32):
What led you to be a commissioner. You have an
interesting story, and I want to just give our listeners
a little bit of insight on you, sir.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Well, sure, and you know I've said this, I've said
this many times and what brought me to even considering
running for a public office, which you know, sometimes it
has its challenges and it's not much different than what
I really thought it would be. But you know, I've
got a company, a personal company that's an environmental services

(02:59):
company that we've out a lot with the Railroad Commission
throughout my my existence, and some of the things that
I were seeing and how rules get applied, uh not
necessarily evenly across the board was one of the things
that really angered me because it created some uncertainty and
how people really could go out and and count on,
you know, what their plan to.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
To be successful really is.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
And if you don't have certainty any rules or the
regulatory rules, then that that really impedes and and makes
things complicated, and that's what I felt like I was
going through in my private life with the Commission, and
that's uh, you know, two years before I decided to
run for this office, I started a task force and
and offered that task force to help try to write

(03:43):
guidance documents on some of the rules so that there
would be consistency to them as whenever they get applied.
And that's that's, uh, that didn't turn.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
Out too well.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
So that's when I decided that I would, uh, you know,
do everything I can to make sure that's what gets achieved.
And that's what brought me to running for the Railroad Commission,
you know, and I'm really proud to announce that we've
made a lot of headway and making that certainty possible.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Now there are three commissioners, all three of you are outstanding,
have been duly elected. But you know, you mentioned if
you want change and consistency, how important it is. And
while I'm going to make this statement, it's definitely a
little bit out of our wheelhouse. You know, how President
Trump's administration has come in and we've gotten some really
great nominees through in the way for oil and gas

(04:32):
and its success, one of them being the Secretary of
Energy Jim Sorry, Chris Wright right and the Secretary of
Interior Burgham And so I hope to see you know,
you mentioned something about consistency and having a set of rules.
It applies to everybody and how important even at that level.
Hopefully they all start looking at energy reform, because it

(04:55):
shouldn't be that president comes in or the House to
the Senate, whatever, and all the rules go outside the
go out the window and we get a new set
of rules. It makes it very hard in that climate
to really promote oil and gas long term because all
oil and gas projects are very very long term between
permitting and contracts, and so having a level playing field
where everybody knows the rules is the best standard. So

(05:18):
I'm glad that you're, you know, making.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Sure commit it's it's really really really important that there
you can predict what the future is going to be
and if if your rules and your regulations don't allow
for that, it's hard to be successful. And I think that,
you know, although I'm glad to see that we've got
people now with the current administration doing what they're doing.

(05:42):
I hope one of the key things that we do
realize from from that success is that we do create
that certainty and that predictability as we move forward in
the future. If I if I could say the one
thing that impedes success of any industry, it is the
inability to count on you know what, what do I
have to do to comply with regulation when there's not
that certainty that's been created abs.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
And we're talking about millions and billions of dollars of investment,
And yes, all I do is look at the Keystone
pipeline is a perfect example of when you don't have
regulatory stature that you can depend on, you see things
like this that don't go through and they get killed
just because of that. And I just want to mention
to the listeners, it's really important to think about it
in a big picture way. If we the United States

(06:27):
do any kind of extractions. When we talk about fossil
fuels in the most cleanest and low carbon way through
to technology and regulations, we've our oil and gas industry
has been actually actually lowering admissions without any regulations. And
if we want to provide energy for the world and

(06:48):
be the leader of how do you do this in
a cleaner way. It has to start with us, and
so you know, y'all's agency is important what's happening right
now and looking at regulatory changes to make sure that
we are strong and able to provide energy for the world,
because it's only expected that we need more, not less.

(07:08):
And then you think about all these AI and Google
platforms that are coming on. We don't have enough energy,
so we really need to focus on this and you
guys are doing an excellent job of regulating it. Let's
begin a commissioner rite with I want to start with
some of the newer technologies. We just recently had Commissioner

(07:28):
Don Buckingham on the cover of Shell magazine, and I
know that that agency does kind of tend to cover
some of what you guys covered the geothermal and it
was a great cover. By the way, I encourage everybody
to read about what the GLO does. But let's talk
a little bit about the Railroad Commission new technologies. How
are you guys embracing geothermal power and hydrogen production? Can

(07:51):
you give us an update on that?

Speaker 4 (07:53):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (07:53):
You know both of those are now by legislative action
in our wheelhouse. We are the persons that are going
to be regular that industry. Geothermal and hydrogen both I
think have promises. I I know that there's been a
lot of interest throughout the state of coming to Texas
because we're so easy to maneuver as far as building

(08:15):
your business and being successful here, especially surrounding energy sources.
You know, I will say that the first geothermal uh project,
I see.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
It just around the corner. I know, I've had a
lot of people calling with a lot.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Of interest, you know, from all over the world of
coming here. Hydrogen. You know, I hope that it continues
its path that we've been seeing and that the market
will improve for people to want to look at that
because I you know, at the end of the day,
I think we're going to need all energy sources for
us to continue to even.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
Thrive in humanity.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Uh. You know, the last I checked, we're not going
backwards as force population.

Speaker 4 (08:56):
We keep moving forwards.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
So you know, demand for for are the things that
make our livelihood better and easier, is always going to continue.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
And yeah, you're you're right.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
I think as technology improves and we see things like
hydrogen and geothermal, that's just going to continue to be
one of the aspects along with with everything else that
we're seeing coming on to supply that that big energy
demand that we're all going to need and doing it,
of course, doing that responsibly exactly.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I like geothermal hydrogen in the way of it's a solution,
not a replacement, but another cleaner solution for our power needs.
And I'm glad to see that the Trump administration is
also taken in geothermal and as taking a good look
at you know, is that a promising energy source for
us that just burns cleaner. But let's move on, Commissioner,

(09:49):
right and talk a little bit about water has also
been you know, set in fults front and center of
the importance of it. It's an extremely important commodity. Tell
us a little bit about why and carbon management these
are critical issues. How is the Railroad Commission addressing these challenges?

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Well, you know, I'm really happy that you asked that
question because that seems to dominate my world today, especially
water and carbon capture. And you know, I just delay
the ground here for those that may not know, Texas
today pretty much everywhere west of the ninety eighth meridian,
which kind of cuts Texas in half if you look

(10:26):
at it on a map, don't we don't have water.
Everybody is running out of water. You know, I'm from
a community called Carpus Christi, Texas, which I.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Believe you live near.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Now we're below eighteen percent in our surface water sources,
which is which is a huge, a huge concern right now,
not only from you know, the ability to turn your
tap on it home, but the way it's going to
be affecting the industry that makes that community successful. And
I will say that, you know, if we don't get

(11:01):
really putting some focus and attention. And when I say we,
I'm not just talking about the Commission, I'm talking about
our legislators also of how we're going to start combating
economically and environmentally, you know, safe combating how we're going
to get over these these drought conditions we're going we're

(11:22):
going to start suffering from from a lot of different aspects.
And you know, one of one of the things I
always say, Kim, and that people don't realize today Texas
produces about six million barrels.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Of oil every day.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
And you know, for those that may not know oil
and gas also comes one other uh resource I call it,
which is produced water. And uh you know, it comes
in a magnitude of about four times more than what
our oil is. So you know, often jokingly say that
we're not really in the oil business in Texas, we're

(11:55):
in the water business. And uh, and it's not really
the oil and gas and there's it's the water industry.
So you know, if you look at it today and
you do the math and what we're taking in from
other states, we've got about thirty million barrels a day
that we're having to handle alongside that successful food and
natural gas production, and and you look at all the

(12:16):
drought conditions that we have in Texas today. To me,
that's a very simple solution. The technology is out there,
the economics work to treat that water to start using
it in places that we need it.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
And I think that that protects two things.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
It replenishes those water sources and then it ensures that
there's certainty in us moving forward in an ail and
gas industry in its success, because that injection also causes
seismicity and overpressurization issues and that could be a thing
that you know, impedes our success moving in the future.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Totally understand, Jim, I'm up on a hard break.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
Let's come back and take it. Up after the break.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
You're listening to the Energy with Treated show.

Speaker 5 (12:57):
We'll be right back, and we're back.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show. My guest
today is Commissioner Jim Wright of the Texas Railroad Commission. Jim,
you were talking about how water is the name of
the game. When we talk about oil and gas, you
have to have water. It produces a lot of water.
You said, I believe four times the amount of what
we're pulling up in the way of oil and gas
resources four times as much comes up with water. How

(13:25):
do we find a solution to reuse this water to
continue to keep this state strong with industry because industry
needs water. So carry on what you were saying, and
I'm sorry, just had a heartbreak.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
No problem this. This is something I'm really passionate about.
As I started saying when we first started talking about
this schemus. You know, today Texas is really dealing with
a lot of drought conditions. You know, it's been a
lot of talk about those communities that live along the
Gulf Coast of de selling ocean water, which I think
are great. I think they're going to be have to
be part of the mix too. But that cost is

(13:59):
going to to increase for our industry, and I you know, today,
I think that there's also a better solution if we
look at using the technology that's there and the economics
that are working today to start treating some of this
produced water and replacing some of those water needs that
we that we desperately have facing us now. You know,

(14:21):
when when you look at what is why are we concerned?
You know, at thirty million barrels a day, it's hard
to find places to safely put that water by injecting it.
And and a lot of people don't realize that with
discovery of the shell, we now have horizontal wells.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
We don't have just vertical wells.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
And we're going into very tight formations to go into
a shell to extract that oil and natural gas. That
doesn't doesn't allow us to put that water back from
where it came, So we have to go to different formations.
And that's where the problem comes in. When we start
over pressurizing formations, and by that I mean adding a
lot of weight to different formations, we start creating shafts

(15:02):
and faults, which are seismic activity or we're in shallow
we start seeking pass of least resistance, which we have
so many older well legacy wells. That's a path of
least resistance. Both of those are not good for our environment.
I think it's going to be a necessary part of
our future to make sure that we start looking at
alternatives other than injection for our produced water. And so

(15:25):
we need water so bad in the State of Texas.
Just doesn't make any sense to me not to marry
those two things together so that we can solve one
problem and solve another problem at the same time. You know,
and I can tell you Abbot, Governor Abbot and Senator
Charles Perry that made that a number one priority for
legislation to consider too.

Speaker 6 (15:46):
This year.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Let's discuss a little bit about some innovation projects and
collaborations that are coming out from the oil and gas
industry and the public. You guys have your finger on
the pulse of all projects and things that are coming
out back we had flaring, and you guys just have
an innovative way of trying to find solutions that really
work for not just the state of Texas, but also

(16:09):
keeping an eye on how do we keep the industry
strong and also take care of you know, our resources
and of course, you know, our climate and making sure
that we're trying to do things as green as possible.
Can you share some projects that you guys have been
working on or see some changes that are occurring that
have really helped the industry fast forward.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, you know, I'm going to start way back from that, Kim,
if you don't mind, I'm going to start by the
opportunity that we've been seeing with the discovery of the shale,
the lift of the embargo in twenty sixteen, and what
that provided for us to.

Speaker 5 (16:42):
Actually today's is what it provided for us.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, you know, the stability in our market and the
opportunities that we face today and some of the impediments
that has kept us from really achieving that.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
So, you know, I had the opportunity.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
I was in Washington not very long ago and I
was interviewed by Japanese media source and we were talking
and the guy said, you know, we in Japan would
love to be able to rely and buy your products.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
But he said, one of the things.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
That that we you know, we've seen and that that
kind of has diminished our reliability in your product on
delivery has been your changes. Your dramatic changes in the
way your regular your regulator like the industry, and by
that he meant the pauls in LNG and those things
that that then creates that uncertainty for them to have

(17:30):
that product available. So when you know, when you asked
about what's exciting things that we're looking at today, it
really follows what our current administration is doing. And I
think with our current administration now we will have the
ability to let some of these newer technologies really play out.
And that being you know, of course we need infrastructure,

(17:52):
but we also need the ability to look at you know,
broadening what is what are we going to do in
the carbon capture market and what are we going to
use that carbon for? And what's the opportunities that are there?
And that technology just seems to continue to grow. We
learn more about it and how carbon can be used
in a lot of different areas, not just in enhanced
oil recovery, but in other other places. And so I think,

(18:16):
you know, when when you look at what's exciting that
it's just technology in general. It's it is moving so
fast today that it's it's almost mind boggling.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Jim, I have a question about carbon capture and the
Railroad Commission pertaining to the oil and gas industry. Is
this a favorable.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
Product?

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Does the oil and gas see the benefit of carbon capture?
Do they go together like peanut butter and jelly or
is it something that could be but also kind of
like geothermal power and hydrogen could be, could be not.
I don't I get a lot of questions on does
the oil and gas industry like carbon capture?

Speaker 4 (18:57):
I get asked that question a lot.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
Kim and and I usually jokingly answer that, well, it's
not a question of whether we like carbon capture or not.
That that ship sail, those cows got out and we
were no need to close the gate. What I what
I do think is yeah, the long gas industry, along
with our agency, has embraced that as being one of
the things that can help fight our climate change issues

(19:21):
that that you know, a lot of people are concerned about.
And in that I think if you if you look
at making those projects really successful, one of the important
things that I've been working on is trying to get
our primacy. I often say this, We've been in the
long gas industry for a long time in Texas. If
we know how to take something out from underneath the

(19:41):
surface of the Earth or put something back underneath the
surface of the Earth. We know that we know that
very well in Texas. So I think for us to
continue to look at carbon and the benefits of what
carbon captures, capture brings. You know, getting that primacy for
this agency is going to be very important for our future.

(20:01):
And you know, I'm glad to say that I've talked
to our new EPA Regional administrator here at Region six,
a guy by the name of Scott Mason, and he's
on board, and you know he has he's been directed
and agrees that we need to try to remove all
the impediments that we can to make sure that we're
a leader when it comes to all in gas industry

(20:22):
and our natural resources and supplying the world. So I
think I think we're going to see a lot of
good things coming from that. I think when you look
at carbon caption in general, the only gas industry has
a huge concern and on anything they're doing that could
form in the way of liability for them, and environment
is a big part of that. So you know, without

(20:42):
without any mandates, you've seen that our our emissions has
gone way down, and when you compare that to the
volumes that we've been generating. You know, it's it's it's
a fraction of what we saw just ten years ago.
So there's there already has been people that are putting
in measures to fight the greenhouse guest side of this,

(21:03):
but they're based on what economic benefit can we also
achieve by doing that.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Very good, Jim, Let's take another quick break. When we return,
I want to talk about some of the biggest challenges
you guys are facing.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
You're listening to the Energy of radio show. We'll be
right back, and we're back.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show. I'm your host,
Kim Balotto. My guest today is Commissioner Jim Right at
the Texas Railroad Commission. Charmissioner Right, thank you for bringing
us up to speed on some of the challenges, some
of the new power sources that you guys are looking
at and regulating now. And we are going to get
in the last segment of the show to session and

(21:43):
some of the bills and pieces of legislation that you
guys have your eye on. But I want to just
talk quickly about biggest challenges that Texas energy sector is
facing today and how is the Railroad Commission working to
overcome them. Can you give us some of the problems
that you get are experiencing.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
Well, you know, I'm glad to announce that that we
got over the hurdle of our environmental rule change, which
we refer to as Rule eight. You know that that
now has been been done and we expect to roll
in those new changes come July this year, which are
all good. They offer a lot further more protection on
the environment while protecting the economic success. And as I

(22:24):
just spoke of, water is going to be a huge
challenge for us, and there's going to be I think
a lot of different things that's going to come out
of legislation as far as bills that are going to
be introduced to help combat our drought conditions. And then
also is our oil filled off and wells that we're
inherent parenting. I think that's going to be another big thing.

(22:44):
And that's some of the challenges that we're facing. You know,
I talked a little bit about water and some of
the over pressurization that water causes. In simplicity, when I
talk about overpressurization, it's like trying to put twelve ounces
in a six ounce bottle.

Speaker 4 (22:57):
It just doesn't work.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
So you know, we we're asking for legislation to give
us more money to combat some of these emergency wells
that that tend to blow out vertical wells.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
You know, as a as an example.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
The last one that we dealt with cost us over
ten million dollars to plug that well. So those are
things that are not necessarily in our budget. And uh,
you know that kind of goes hand in hand with
we need a solution for the water that we're injecting
and until we can come up with a good legislative
action in that. In that course, you know, we we've

(23:34):
asked for money to try to try to combat some
of these surprises that we're seeing whenever these wells burst
out due to these overpressurization issues.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
So you know.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
You've asked in your you're asking what I keeps me
awake at night. I've just kind of run through those
for you, and I think we're going to see a
lot of different as ways of of of trying to
create a solution for that through different bills that we
see that's going to come out through this legislative session.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
And let's talk about that too in the way of
let's get into session. So we have entered into text.
The eighty ninth regular Session opened up January fourteenth, twenty
twenty five, so it's well underway, and you have a
list of different pieces of legislation that have the potential

(24:24):
to making it into Texas law, and i'd like for
you to cover that with me. I have some specifics,
but I'm going to go ahead and turn the mic
over to you to let you just kind of tell
us some of them, and then if you can go
into a brief detail of what is going on with
that bill. Can you start with your first one. I
know you discussed water earlier in the show, so I
know that will be on your radar. But tell us

(24:45):
a little bit about what bills potentially have either good
outcomes that y'all feel or potentially bad.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Well, you know a lot of the stuff that we're
looking at is more on the appropriation side, and that
has to do with getting the budgeted a bit to
do some of the things that we're wanting to do here,
and you know there's several of those that one of
those is creative data reporting system where people can produce
can report better pressurizations on injection of water so that

(25:13):
we can start to predict whenever we might have a
seismic event or if we're getting in too much pressure
in a shallower formation that could cause that water to
seek the path of least resistance. And then the other
one is an oil and gas authorized pit registration system,
which was the result of the changes that we made
in Rule eight, our environmental rules, where we create a

(25:36):
data reporting system so that people can register those pits.
We better know where they're at so that we can
go send our inspectors out to make sure that those
pits are not causing any type of environmental damage to
a certain person's property.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Non Jim, let me break in here real quick, because
this was our short segment. We're going to come back
from break and we're going to take this up. But
I want you to also when we come back from break.
Oil and gas have been contributing billions of dollars, record
numbers of money being raised for the state of Texas
because of the great work and oil and gas and
the production and it feeds the state from the schools

(26:10):
and law enforcement. But it would make sense to me,
and I do not do not mean to be disrespectful
to the elect our elected officials in any way but
since the Railroad Commission is the most important agency, and we've.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
Got record numbers of.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Billions that are being raised with a state, it would
make sense to me that the Railroad Commission would get
the money for all of these projects you're talking about
to continue to streamline, and of course just bring online
a regulatory agency that is up to par with where
we are right now with data and analytics and everything else.
I want you to talk about that when we return
from break. You're listening to the Energipic radio show, We'll

(26:48):
be right back.

Speaker 6 (26:50):
Farmers and ranchers are the hardest working people on Earth
and deserve a side by side vehicle that works just
as hard. That's why Yamaha makes the Viking and all
new Vikings the world's first true three and six person
UTVs assembled in America, ranked number one and drive trained durability,
Viking outworks and outclasses the competition and features comfort and

(27:11):
off road capability. For more, visit Yamaha Viking dot com.
Most of penable claim based on a twenty thirteen Yamaha
Source side by side owner study.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
And we're back.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show. My guest
today is Commissioner Jim Wright of the Texas Railroad Commission
now commissioner.

Speaker 5 (27:29):
Right, just to get our listeners up to speed.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
You have been covering some of the eighty nine cent sessions,
pieces of legislation you guys are keeping your eye on.
But you talked about that you're looking for legislation to
fund some of the stuff that the Railroad Commission needs
to get better organized and use technology to continue to

(27:54):
just you know, rise of being a lot more up
to speed with technology to be able to keep a
better eye on the oil and gas industry and regulate it.
So let's go back to that, with Texas having record numbers,
record number breaking records of how many billions of dollars
are coming in to the state from the oil and

(28:17):
gas industry, right, the Texas Rainy Day fund those resources.
You're saying you have to have legislation pass in order
to fund technology to keep you guys organized in today's environment.
I would think that the legislators this would be a
no brainer that the Railroad Commission is the most important
agency that monitors this. So where are we with these

(28:42):
different bills And what's your opinion on how easy or
how difficult it is for the Railroad Commission to get funding.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Well, you know, it's not been really that difficult that
I've seen since I've been here, cam, but I think,
you know, it's important people to know that the oil
and gas industry keeps break records year over year over year.
In the spass physical year, we broke a record of
twenty seven billion dollars in benefits to the state in

(29:10):
severance taxes that we paid, and you're right, a lot
of that does go to the Rainy Day Fund. And
you would think, okay, well, you're going to get a
big part of that because you brought that money to
the table as regulatory agencies overseeing the people that brought it,
you know, And I's that's what most people do think.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
But I think what most people need.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
To really realize is Texas is the best state in
the nation. We don't get here for free, and that
money's got to be appropriated in a lot of different
places for us to continue that success.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
And I think that our.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
Legislators do do a pretty good job about trying to measure,
you know, what's important for us to continue the success
that we've seen here in Texas. And you know, we
we like anybody else, I think, rightfully, so need to
justify what we want to ask for and how we
want to spend those dollars, and that goes through the
appropriations process, and you know, I've never seen them not

(30:06):
not really agree with what we're requesting. You know, I'm
not saying there won't be a first time, and I'm
not saying this won't be the first time, because as
I said, we're we're looking at asking for an additional
one hundred million dollars to plug arphen wells, and we've
never asked for that before. But we're in a little
different circumstance today and that we're running out of room
to inject produced water. And you know, hopefully if if

(30:29):
we don't get that appropriated, that at least it'll spur
some of them into thinking that, you know, we've got
to do something other than inject this water, and says
we need the water very bad in Texas. Help us
try to create ways that we can marry those things together.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
You know, I.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Really am happy the way that things are turning out
in this legislator ship. So I haven't seen a lot
of crazy stuff that's come out out of it. You know,
there's good concerns. All field theft is another bill that
Kevin Sparks has put up right now and some other
people looking putting amendments on, which has been a big

(31:09):
problem for the industry here lately, especially you know, with
the inflation and the way things have turned out in
the last four years.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
And so I'm sure, I'm not sure if I even
know what what is oil field theft?

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Well, all field theft as people are going out and
literally backing up to tanks and stealing oil out of
all tanks. And it's people that are stealing trucks and
instruction equipment and all the other things that they use
in the oil field. I mean, it's really a major problem.

Speaker 5 (31:40):
Wow, Okay, didn't know that. Well, let's get back to
your list, sir.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
What else are the pieces of legislation you guys have
your eye on. You mentioned two of them.

Speaker 5 (31:50):
Let's keep going.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
You know, I think I.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Left off with oil and Gas Authorized Pits registration, and
that's going to be an easy way where people can
come online and resture those pits and allow allows us
to now know where these pits are at and for
our inspectors to go out and make sure that those
pilt pits are built in, designed according to rule and
they're not imposing any harm to the environment. We have
a oversight in safety regulatory filing and permitting system that's

(32:16):
an online filing system including modules for compliance filings and alternative.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
Fuels online system.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
We have an underground injection well investigation team that we're
hiring at tenn FTEs to go out and investigate hydrogeological
phenomenons when it comes to seismic activity or over pressurization.
We have site remediation programs support where we want to
hire a couple more FTEs to go out and figure

(32:45):
out better, better ways of us remediating some of these
sites that have been abandoned and stretching our tax dollars
a little further. And then of course our ever ever,
ever sustaining and lasting upgrade in our our IT systems.
There are several deals on that. And then of course

(33:05):
vehicles all field as rough vehicles as you may be
aware of, kim not the best roads in the world
when you're running through these branches. And then you know,
last but not least, data center services adjustments. So those
are the things that we're hoping to be appropriated on
I don't. I don't see a lot of issues on it.

(33:28):
And then you know, I have not seen a lot
of other bills that are there impediments.

Speaker 4 (33:35):
Everything I've seen so far have been basically good, good.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
Things, very good.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
So it's kind of interesting because some sessions are not
like that. Some sessions I've really taken the energy industry
by storm, if you will, on some of the pieces
of legislation of them.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
If you want to talk about what the rodeo was,
we got to go back to twenty one whenever win
or strong Yuri was here and had the huge surprise
of what that storm issues were and some of all
those bills that got created on you know, what we
should do to make sure that our energy is there.
I don't know that I'll ever experience another one like that.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
So Commissioner, right, those are some of the the pieces
of legislation you have your eye on. But earlier in
the show, you mentioned how important water is going to be,
and we also know that, like you mentioned storm jury,
there's also some legislation pertaining to Urkott and you know,
how are we going to sustain our future pertaining to

(34:36):
energy When we talk about you know, Urkott So can
you talk to us a little bit about water first?
What are you seeing happening with the Texas legislator and
how they're dealing and grappling with the water situation that's
pretty dire here in Texas.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yeah, you know, it's been a relationship, a really good
relationship we've had, especially with Senator Charles Perry. He's been
kind of the spiritating the efforts from the l side
to create good bills that give us some solutions of
utilizing not only just our produced water that I told
you the magnitude that we have, but other water sources

(35:11):
that are potential that we have not been utilizing, like
oceanic water or treating you know, brine water that that.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
We can actually droodle well to and reduce.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Uh, there's a lot of things, and he has he's
had the vision just like everybody else that you know,
Texas is growing in magnitudes and our water needs are
not reducing, they're increasing exponentially, and that you know, planning
for the long term success of that is very, very important.
So you know, he's he's got some good bills out

(35:44):
there today. Of course that's not going to come at
a cheap price. You know there's a bill out today
being proposed where we impose a fee on that on
that water that we're injecting to help pay for some
of that.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
So you know, you're going to see You're going to see.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
A lot of different things, but they're I think the
result will be really great for Texas.

Speaker 5 (36:04):
Let's take a quick break.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
You're listening to the Energy Mixed radio show.

Speaker 5 (36:06):
Will be right back, and we're back.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show. My guest
today is Commissioner gym Right at the Texas ro Kilroad
Commission Commissioner Right. You know, when we talk about bills
and legislation, I think a lot of listeners, you know,
they know that oil and gas is important to this state.
I think that you know, we all understand the amount
of resources and a tax revenue base that we receive
as a result of having a very prosperous oil and

(36:34):
gas exploration happening here in Texas. But a lot of people,
I think, really have a big misunderstanding of how all
this comes together. And since Texas only meets every two years,
our legislator is the eighty nine session, and every session
is vital. When we talk about oil and gas to
make sure that we continue to stay strong pertaining to

(36:56):
oil and gas in this state and keep an eye
on how fruitful it is for the entire state. So
you mentioned water, and I want to give you an
opportunity to come back in and talk about some of
the other issues that you see that are important pertaining
to energy. One of them I mentioned earlier was Urkott,
which was when we had storm Urine, we really realized

(37:17):
that we are not looking at our infrastructure to make
sure that we have plenty of resources for big storms
and or just too As you you know mentioned earlier,
we have a lot of people moving into the state.
We've got to look at them, the water issues, and
we also have to look at utilities and energy, which
is Arecot. Tell me about Urkot and then we'll move
on to like bigger projects that affect all of us

(37:38):
when we talk about oil and gas now.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
And do you know, Kim, I don't know about everybody else,
but there's two things in my life that I really
can't live without, and that's water and electricity. So you
know those those those two things kind of go hand
in hand. But none of those were successful without us
having a successful oil and gas industry and in other
sources of power too. You know, I'm not leaving wind

(38:01):
or sower or hydrogen or geo thermal, any of that
out we're going to need at all. When you when
you look at what Urkott is doing, you know that
the mission here is to make sure that we're not
just building to to meet what our needs today, that
we're going to be building for our needs in the future.
And so when you look at some of the bills
that have been come out and that's uh that's come
out of this legislative session, those are essentially planning for

(38:24):
our future. I know that Urcott has a difficult ability
because of the way our market is set up today.
You know, it's a market that's.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
Designed that we pay. You know, in fact, I think.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Texas has some of the cheapest electrical rates in the nation,
but it's but it's because of that market design. But
you always have, you always have difficulties when you try
to provide cheap and quality. Usually those two things don't
go in the same sentence, right, So I think a
lot of that now is trying to mend you know,
how do we continue to stay cheap and how do
we get.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
Quality and and uh, I know one thing.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
That it's been it's been a huge topic for not
just the Railroad Commission and making sure that we had
the energy that we need to produce these products, but
it also has been for ur COD and it's made us.
It's made us as agencies forced to get in the
same room and talk about the same issues. And if

(39:17):
people look at you know, just the result of us
communicating and what benefits that as provided. Have you seen
that we've lost electricity in any of these dark times, uh,
you know, hot or cold since Winter Storm Yuri. You know,
I can tell you I credit that to the ability
that we were forced to get in the same room
and start communicating. That's been one huge step forward. So,

(39:37):
you know, a lot of our money and a lot
a lot of that is going to have to be
in researching how do we how do we make sure
that we have that energy source, that electricity available for
our needs moving forward in the future, and that that's
that's always I think you're going to see that happen
every legislative session that we have.

Speaker 6 (39:52):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
You know, the Permian is a perfect example. We have
a huge energy need out there and one of the
One of the things that I've seen our Lieutenant governor
and our governor capitalizing on is these many nuclear plant projects.
I think there's a lot of potential behind that, you know,
but I think we know that we need to generate

(40:13):
the electricity.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
But on the flip side, we also got to be
able to get it where it's needed.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
And so, you know, transmission lines and things like that
are things that.

Speaker 4 (40:21):
We're going to be faced with as we move forward
in the future. Too.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Let's switch gears and talk a little bit about the
Texas Strong Defense Fund. This is a proposal aimed to
redirect oil and gas servants severance tax revenue into local
investments rather than funneling it to the state's Rainy Day Fund.
Can you tell us a little bit about it? Because
this fund would be addressing environmental impacts, transportation, infrastructure, and
the quality of life in oil producing regions. What is

(40:47):
that bill all about? In your opinion?

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Comissure right, Compare to this, Kim. If if you're a
successful roper, you're out roping on the rodeo circuit are
the most important thing to note is that you feel
and take care of your horse. That's making you successful.
It's kind of the same thing when you look at
the STRONG program, you know, where is this all and
gas being produced, and how do we feed it to

(41:09):
make sure that we continue to produce it.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
And I think that's pretty much what that bill.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Is asking to do, is that we continue to have
improved highways, we continue to have the electrical needs, all
those things met from that horse that's actually making us
successful and winning these rodeo competitions. That's essentially what that
is saying. So they're asking for some of that money
that's coming from the a on gas industry to stay in
those communities that's generating that income, to help improve the

(41:35):
roads to schools and all the things that you need
to make that successful.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
And I want to just kind of drill down into
that for half a second. And it is so back
in the height of Eagle Ford Shell, I do remember
that there was money given on specific infrastructure, but at
the end of the day when the money was allocated
after the bill was passed, it appeared as though the
larger cities got a lot of that money, and that's
not really what it was allocated for.

Speaker 5 (41:59):
So I think you're.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Drilling down on exactly why we need permian basin is
one of the biggest place we have and it's certainly
here for Texas, and that has to have the infrastructure
needed to continue to pull these resources out for the state.
So I understand what you're saying. Let's talk about Senate
Bill thirteen. This bill requires state entities, including state pension
funds and Texas Massive Kate through twelve school endownments, to

(42:23):
divest from companies that refuse to invest in fossil fuel companies.
We've heard a lot of this as black Rock and
they wanted to reduce greenhouse gases. So what is center
Bill thirteen?

Speaker 5 (42:34):
Do you?

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Center Built thirteen is essentially that we take anything that's
that we control as a government, money that we control,
that there are controller controls, and we're telling companies that, look,
if you're degrading or you're not willing to invest in
all in gas the thing that makes really Texas successful,
and we don't need you coming to Texas. We don't

(42:57):
need your money here. That's basically what that bill is about.
We want people that want to invest in the oil
and gas industry and and and energy needs.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
Kind of across the board.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
You know, it was funny the other day I talked
to some people with City Public Service and they were
wanting to do a project that was surrounded solar farms.
And we're looking at one of those companies that were
on that blacklist, and you know, it was interpreted that,
you know, they can't use those they can't they can't
use that company because of that list. That's some of
the you know, some of the things that I think

(43:27):
those companies now are cratching their head going. You know,
that probably wasn't very smart of us to do that,
you know, that, to to buy off on the ESG
concerns that the way they did, uh. And I think
I think that bill, you know, it started in the
eighty six the legislative session has been really successful for
us because a lot of these larger investment firms are
really turned around and really looked at doing things differently.

(43:48):
And I think that's been a total result of what
our bill generation and in that regard has been.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
You know, it's it's strange commission, right you say that.
Sometime back, I had Harold him on the show. He
had recently wrote a book, a very good book, and
he said, when I asked him the question of ESG,
he said, Kim, he said, I see ESG going away
pretty quickly, and boy was he right in the way.
No way, especially with this administration. Commissioner right, I wish
we had another hour with you to really drill down

(44:15):
into some of the session. But at least I know
in interviewing you today that you guys have your eye on,
you know, over ten different pieces of legislation ensuring that
the oil and gas indust is going to stay prosperous
and it's going to stay strong here in the state
of Texas as long as we have these three commissioners,
which is you, Commissioner, a chairwoman, Cradict and of course
Commissioner Christian.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
And I do want to make it official too, Kim,
if you have one second left, and I will be
running for reelection because I still think there's a lot
of work to do, and I'm you know, I'm glad
that we have the three my fellow two commissioners in
the ground that we've been able to cover over my
term here.

Speaker 4 (44:49):
I just want to make sure that people are aware.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Thank you for joining me today on the Energy Mix
Radio show.

Speaker 4 (44:54):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
The Energy Mix Radio Show is where we explore topics
that affect us all in the oil and gas industry.
Every week, our host will interview the movers and shakers
in this fast paced industry. You will hear from industry experts,
elected officials, and many more on the Energy Mix radio
show