Cruz, O’Rourke on energy Senate candidates offer their opinions on top energy issues

Senator Ted Cruz will face U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, in the November general election. Senator Ted Cruz will face U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, in the November general election. Photo: Midland Reporter-Telegram Photo: Midland Reporter-Telegram Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Cruz, O’Rourke on energy 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke were in Midland recently as they campaign for the Nov. 6 election.

The Reporter-Telegram had the opportunity to ask the same three questions related to issues in the oil industry. Here are their responses.

MRT: How do you view the current efforts to update the Endangered Species Act winding their way through Congress?

Ted Cruz: There is a real need to reform the Endangered Species Act, to both allow economic development and oil and gas exploration and to encourage conservation of endangered species. The current law is often abused by environmental activists and overzealous federal regulators to try to shut down exploration and eliminate jobs. That is not the intended purpose of the statute. I strongly support efforts to reform the Endangered Species Act to create real incentives, to save species, to expand populations and at the same time to maximize economic development and the opportunities for energy exploration

Beto O’Rourke: I think there’s a way to achieve a balance and ensure that we protect the habitats and the wildlife that help to distinguish Texas and are a part of our heritage. And also making sure that the regulations are common sense, allow for input from local stakeholders — so ranchers, farmers, property owners, public officials from local communities — as well as the federal government. I think it’s got to be a collaborative approach. And I just want to make sure that we continue to move forward in that manner.

How do you view the economic and security importance of energy production for the communities of the Permian Basin, the state and the nation?

Cruz: The Permian Basin is extraordinary; it accounts for almost half the oil production in the lower 48 states. The shale revolution that the Permian Basin is experiencing is transforming the Texas economy, the American economy and rearranging the global geopolitical map. America is becoming an energy exporter and the Permian is front and center in that transformation. In the next five years, output in the Permian alone is expected to more than double, and in order to continue that growth we need federal policies that allow oil and gas to flourish. In my time in the Senate, I have worked to be the leading champion for energy and for oil and gas in the United States Senate.

I have introduced legislation – the American Energy Renaissance Act – that would remove unnecessary regulations, unchain entrepreneurs and wildcatters, and create an environment where the maximum number of jobs will be created. The effects of the historic tax cuts we passed in December and the Trump administration pulling back job-killing regulations have been dramatic. Today, Texas has produced 33 percent more oil than we did in 2016. That is the difference with sound policy. And I would note there is no race in the country where the candidates have a more starkly different record on energy and oil and gas in particular than the U.S. Senate race in Texas. As I said, I have been the leading defender of oil and gas in the Senate. On the other hand, Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke has voted repeatedly in support of a carbon tax, has voted in support of a $10 a barrel tax on oil, has strongly supported the Paris Climate agreement, which would have had a devastating impact on the energy industry, has opposed efforts to expedite LNG exporting permits and has supported aggressive federal regulations of fracking that would restrict fracking. Every one of those policies is contrary to the interests of the Permian Basin and is wrong-headed for the people of Texas.

O’Rourke: It’s fundamental to our national security and our energy security and our energy independence. I mentioned earlier [during the Midland town hall on Aug. 30] that we’re in our 27th year of war in Iraq. We began those wars in 1991, and we’ve been there every year through six successive presidential administrations. I don’t ever want to be dependent on another part of the world again for our energy. I love that Texas has made us independent. And I also am grateful for the jobs and the economic growth that come with that. I want to make sure that we continue to do this in a responsible, safe way that does not jeopardize the environment. … I’ve been really pleased at the willingness of industry to work on issues like fugitive emissions, which are not only not good for the environment. They’re not good for their bottom line in their businesses. I think that natural gas that we use as a cleaner energy source here in this country could be something that replaces coal-fired plants in China, in India — two of the largest economies on the planet that are burning coal and contributing to climate change. I’d much rather they burn natural gas from Texas that’s connected to jobs here. It’s connected to a much cleaner way to produce energy than coal. I think that’s a great job opportunity and an environmentally responsible opportunity. So, this part of Texas is fundamental to our national security.

Don’t tariffs threaten the ability to obtain the steel needed to build pipelines and therefore threaten the nation’s ability to achieve energy dominance?

Cruz: Yes. There is a real potential that tariffs or a trade war could impose meaningful damage on the energy industry. I support free trade. I have urged President Trump and the Trump administration repeatedly to use NAFTA renegotiations to expend our access into foreign markets, to expand our access into Mexico and Canada rather than a vehicle to restrict trade and erect barriers to the U.S. markets. In my view, the single greatest opportunity on NAFTA renegotiation is energy and opening up the Mexico energy markets, which would produce thousands of high-paying jobs in Mexico and Texas. When it comes to trade, trade is the single biggest concern I hear from the Texas business community. Texas small business owners are enthusiastic about the positive benefits of the tax cuts that we passed last year, they are enthusiastic about the reduction in job-killing regulations from Washington but very concerned that tariffs in a trade war could hurt Texas. I agree with those concerns, and I have encouraged President Trump not to listen to those voices in his administration urging higher tariffs but rather for the administration to aggressively negotiate for lower tariffs across the board. Because when Texas businesses, when Texas farmers and when Texas ranchers have access to foreign markets we can compete with anyone on a fair and level playing field.

O’Rourke: Tariffs are bad for Texas. They’re bad for Texas farmers and growers, producers, manufacturers and exporters. They’re also bad for a state that buys more aluminum and steel I believe than any other state in the Union. So our cost for construction, our cost for pipelines, our cost for civic projects, for building has gone through the roof. We were just in Abilene, Texas, and learned that — I think it’s a new convention center — the cost for that convention center had gone up 20 percent as their costs for lumber, steel and aluminum have gone up 20 percent. So, I think there is a way to meet the challenge of China manipulating their currency, China dumping steel and aluminum — which they shouldn’t be doing. And I’m grateful that the president is trying to stand up against them. But the president’s also entered this country into a trade war without going into that war with any allies. We’ve estranged Canada. We’ve estranged the European Union. We’ve estranged our trading partners who could have been our allies against China, and we’re trying to go it alone. No state’s economy is going to be hit harder than Texas, so we need to help this president and help the country to do the right thing.