CARTHAGE, TX (EAST TEXAS NEWS) – The president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association says the Ukraine crisis should serve as a wake-up call regarding energy policy.
Speaking at a meeting of the East Texas Gas Producers Association in Carthage, Todd Staples said the conflict painfully demonstrates the link between national security and energy security.
“The invasion of Ukraine really highlighted that,” Staples said in an interview with KLTV. “And I talked (today) about the need to discuss the importance of oil and gas in our daily lives. How oil and natural gas are the building blocks of about 96 percent of the components we use every day. And we have to tell that story.”
Staples says the pain consumers feel at the pump is the result of things like canceled pipeline projects, delayed permit approvals, and shortsighted decision-making, all worsened by the war.
“In the United States, the message has been that we want to stop producing oil and gas and move it to other parts of the world,” he said. “And that has caused this situation to worsen, with consumers paying much higher prices at the pump than they should,” Staples said.
And he says expanding oil and natural gas production takes time, planning and investment.
“The market has to work these things out,” he said. “It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Staples said that the Biden administration’s efforts have hindered growth and energy security.
“If we want energy security and also want to meet environmental goals, the only way to do that is to have energy produced domestically,” Staples said. “And to have oil and gas jobs in Texas and in the United States, not in other countries around the world.”
The former Texas Agriculture Commissioner and Anderson County native also noted that Texas leads in oil and gas production, accounting for roughly 43 percent of the country’s total oil output. Staples said Texas and the U.S. play a crucial role in stability by providing reliable energy at home and abroad.
Copyright 2022 East Texas News via KLTV. All rights reserved.
