Opening Keynote

Transcription:

Christi Craddick (00:09):

Well, thank you for the introduction and thank you all for having me today and for giving me the opportunity to join you. So Noe was almost right. So you said I'd correct you. My father was the first Republican speaker of the house in 120 years. So since reconstruction, he was part of changing the world in this state as far as Republican politics and the Texas house. And as my family goes, we are servants and part of how I serve is at the Railroad Commission. So it's been an interesting now 13 years and it's nice to see all of you at a time when there's so much going on politically here in Texas and across the country. And my speech, no, we threw who's out the door. I kind of was looking at mine. The next line says, so much has changed so fast, hasn't it?

(01:00):

Who knew that was a real thing today? Look, it feels like what? One minute we were facing endless federal bureaucracy determined to bring down both the oil and gas industry and I would say the Texas economy since 30% of our is based on oil and gas. And the next here we are operating under executive orders that are unleashing American energy. So it's a little funny to me in the last few months to watch the pundits scramble to make excuses and explain why they were so wrong about their election predictions. When we kind of all know why it's always about the economy and this last cycle, people care. They care about when they can't afford their groceries, let alone insurance for their homes, their businesses, they care when their rent doubles and they care when Washington places more on endangered species than ahead of hardworking people.

(02:00):

People cared. And fortunately in Texas we kind of see all through that nonsense, which is a positive and we're continuing to grow and improve our economy for more than a decade. I've served on the Rower Commission of Texas, which is charged with ensuring that our energy sector is safe, responsible, and thriving. So no, we don't do railroads. We're the oil and gas regulator by the way. And during that time we've managed our work with efficiency and transparency, utilizing many of the same principles as the president's new Department of Government efficiency or Doge. And in fact, in Texas we were dozed before Doge was a thing and we were kind of cool down here. Washington's finally getting the message and now it seems like everybody's running for office under Doge or they're talking about it. But at the heart of it today and going forward, all good government, good business and fiscal responsibility is based in one simple fact.

(03:09):

Don't spend money you don't have. That's what Doge is. That's the bedrock of foundation for all of our budgets. We are all sitting at our kitchen tables in our offices figuring out how to set a budget up. We know you can't have a budget that spends more money or if you do, you're going out and borrowing money. So we hope that continues for some of y'all. But the reality is this a well-run government agency exists. We are one and it can be a thing. And that's how we do it at the Railroad Commission, which frankly is one of the most important agencies in this state. Oil and gas revenues fund our public schools and public safety, the jobs it creates and sustains lift families out of poverty and provide hope and prosperity for communities across the state. It's also bringing in money to fund the tax relief.

(04:08):

Texans across the state need and deserve our common sense rules and regulations and commitment to the principles of free market have helped our economy thrive. So how much is it thriving? Well, glad you asked. In 2024, the Texas oil and gas industry made history yet again by generating 27.3 billion with a B dollars in state and local taxes and royalties. That's a lot of money for the state. That's $74.8 million a day that came in to the state that supports public schools infrastructure and essential services like law enforcement and border security. But as big as those numbers are, it's also in my mind worth looking and seeing how it affects the normal person in the workforce. Oil and gas today directly employs more than 491,000 Texans. It's about a half a million people directly and it pays an average salary of $128,000 a year. That's not just economic impact for people.

(05:29):

Think about making $128,000 a year driving a truck. That's why we see people with a one income household today instead of two in places. That's a lot of money for people. And just last week we announced that there were new records for production in oil and gas in 2024. This state produced 2 billion barrels of oil in 2024. That's a record for the state. We're glad to continue being a leader. Look, we're all part of the strongest economy in the United States is sitting right here. And how have we done it? By utilizing common sense. We give the people who live here the freedom to launch a business, to build a home or to enjoy free speech. So for those of you who do a little business in California, try opening a business up over there and see the millions of miles of red tape that it costs you.

(06:31):

How about those people who have to rebuild their home in California? How about getting a home permit to rebuild? Come on to Texas, Austin. Sometimes a little bit more difficult, but the rest of the state's pretty easy. We're glad to have 'em. And here in Texas we know better. It's why so many people are abandoning the blue states and coming to Texas, we all see 'em on the roads. If you're from someplace else, welcome. Remember why you moved here and learn how to drive. Thank you. And we've had a lot of great people move to Texas including some of the leading business minds of our era. And it's not just about energy. By the way, Texas leads and cutting edge industries including manufacturing, space exploration and the creation of lifesaving research that helps people defeat cancer every single day. That's real hope for people. And all of that flows from the same source, giving people the ability and the freedom to make their dreams come true.

(07:36):

My job at the Railroad Commission has been to preserve these freedoms and promote our ongoing prosperity while serving as a capable steward of our natural resources and the environment. And for the most part, we operate just on the oil and gas fees that we take in. That means we have to be good stewards. Look, we have challenges we work with every day and one of those is water. If you are in the oil and gas business, everybody knows you're in the fluids business, which means water. And there's nothing more important to any of us than water. And that's why our agency in the last several years has prioritized water usage. I grew up in West Texas. We don't have any water, so you've got to think about what you do with all the water that's coming up. We at the agency created a pilot study program for produced water and projects that is allowing oil and gas operators to use the latest in technological advancements to recycle and reuse water.

(08:40):

And we're also working with many Texas agencies, universities and stakeholders to create more economic opportunities for water conservation and recycling. We're going to be the leader in water. We're working to make sure that government isn't standing in the way of any science-based rational approaches to keeping water safe and abundant for people everywhere in the state. We're also in another one of our challenges is making sure we're responsibly plugging orphan wells. And for those of you who don't know what that is, when a well stops producing operators have a responsibility to plug the wells with cement and that protects the land and the groundwater. We have rules for that. When they don't can't gone out of business, we can't find them. Those wells become orphaned and the railroad commission takes those wells over our agency plugs more than a thousand wells a year. It's an ongoing project for us and we've exceeded the goals from the legislature every single year.

(09:51):

We have 400,000 wells by the way and a perspective in this state. We're the biggest state. Again, we like that. Our priority though is to make sure we are protecting the environment as well. And we take immediate action to control and plug any actively leaking emergency wells without regard to our budget or what it does to what we're supposed to be spending. That's important, but there's still more work to be done and that's why this legislative session is they're working on the budgets and the house will be up tomorrow. We've requested additional dollars to help provide us with dollars to work on this important function and hopefully they're beginning to understand how important that is. Look, I'm so proud of what we've done at the Rower Commission. We are a great agency and I believe that there are things that we do that people never hear of as well.

(10:50):

So I want to highlight one of those. We've overhauled our waste management and commercial recycling regulations for the first time in decades. What's decades mean? Like 40 years. This is another piece of the agency and another part of this industry. It's not well talked about, but it's important. So what does this mean? New modern standards for on lease production pits. A waste tracking system for haulers and disposal operators and updates for commercial recycling projects. And the other thing that we did last year, we created the Texas Hydrogen Production Policy Council. I'm going to talk about energy. We do it all at our agency and hydrogen is an opportunity and we believe that hydrogen in the next several years will be a great opportunity for Texas. We're already seeing the Houston hub get federal dollars to that end. We're excited about that. And the last thing we've really focused on is an agencies keeping the air clean.

(11:51):

You read about it, it's to us, and we can tell a difference. Methane emissions in the Permian Basin, meaning West Texas have come down 75% since 2011. That's a huge decrease. Again, credit sensible regulations and the ability of Texans to innovate and create when freed from the shackles of micromanagement. Meaning government doesn't always have to get involved. You have to give them the framework. And industry has done a great job as the Chairman of the Railroad Commission. I understand that at the end of the day, our mission is simple and common sense. Protect our citizens, communities and the environment while at the same time working to keep our energy industry strong, to create good paying jobs and to generate enough energy to fill up your vehicles at the pump. That's all you really know about. Right? To keep the lights on at home to heat and cool your home and business to transport food and supplies for industry across the world, across the country, and across the state.

(13:08):

And provide crucial needed energy for our national security. Small jobs, we've always been home, divisionary and innovators and pioneers, and we're going to continue that tradition making way for more jobs, more prosperity, and an even stronger Texas economy. Now let me address, if you'll let me for just a minute while I'm throwing my hat into the race for Comptroller of Texas. And you're going to hear from Glenn, I think Hager this week. I'm excited. He's going to a and m. He's excited to go to a and m. And we kind of did this pretty quickly. Look, when I got elected the Rower Commission, there were problems that needed to be addressed. That's one of the reasons I ran. And since then we've made great strides in resolving those issues. They really inspired me to run for office. And over the last year I've had some business leaders talk to me about running for something else, comptroller being one of 'em. Like I said with the recent announcement of Glenn Hager, who's moving to a and m starting July 1st, y'all can gig him. Aggies, when he comes. I had to make a pretty quick decision and I announced that I'm running for that office. That doesn't mean I'm going any place. By the way. I want to carry my proven record of addressing and solving problems within a large state agency to provide positive changes at the Office of Controller. The controller's office is needing an IT upgrade.

(14:39):

2008. That sounds pretty old. Mine was when I got to my agency right now, the River Commission, 40 years old. So not quite that old, but we're in the process of upgrading our IT from a FORTRAN mainframe to the cloud. We're almost done and we'll be done in the next couple of years. I know there's some gray haired people actually understand what I just said. By the way, we'll be done at the Railroad commission in the next couple of years. That's been important. We've been on time, on budget and done what we've said. I think there's an opportunity at the comptroller's office to improve their technology. I think there should be a full scale audit. The agency, every agency, every business before you walk in, you ought to audit. You ought to see what they're doing. You ought to make sure they're spending dollars. It's your tax dollars appropriately and see where the right if the people are in the right places.

(15:26):

So I look forward to doing that. And one of my things that I keep hearing about at the controller's office, I'd like to fix delays in business refunds. I'm hearing there are people that have been in audit or not getting refunds for seven to 10 years. Five's the average, maybe two. Okay. If the IRS was in my business for that long, we'd all have a conversation. I think that that's something that this agency needs to focus on and resolve. I'm a problem solver. Look, I have a proven conservative leadership to work alongside the legislature as well. When I walk in the door, they listen. They may not always like what I have to say, but they listen and they've been very conducive in our conversations at the Railroad Commission to make sure we've got appropriate funding and we can do our job. I think that will be a real positive.

(16:17):

And look, the comptroller doesn't set the spending priorities, but the office pays a pretty important role in revenue forecasting, budgeting, and accountability. So just like at the Rower Commission, my priority will be protecting taxpayers, promoting transparency, and helping ensure taxes remains a low tax pro-growth state where businesses and families can thrive. So while a campaign for comptroller at the appropriate time, look, I'm still going to be at the Rower Commission until I leave and I look forward to putting policy before politics and making sure that we have transparent, consistent regulations and that this state and this industry continues to have great opportunities and continues to grow. So thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for having me and God bless Texas.