TexaS oil & gas assoc

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Al Armendariz EPA admin

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...In the United States, both Shell and BP support groups such as the Alliance of Western Energy Consumers, which crusaded against Oregon’s efforts to put a price on carbon emissions, and theTexas Oil & Gas Association, a trade group in the nation’s top oil-producing state battling rules to restrict output of methane, a super-heating greenhouse gas....

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https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-oil-and-gas-companies-suing-to-pollute-without-limits/

...

The member companies of the 24 trade associations listed in the sidebar are responsible

for much of the pollution that makes the oil and gas sector the largest industrial source

of methane emissions in the United States. (see Text Box)

CAP reviewed these trade associations’ membership lists—when available—and

cross-referenced the member companies with those that reported methane emissions to the

Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, or GHGRP, in 2014 and 2015. When the full

membership list was not publicly available, the authors used other lists, such as lists of

companies serving on the associations’ boards of directors. (see the Methodology

section for a complete discussion of the sources used)

Through its review, CAP found that:

■ At least 104 oil and gas production companies reported methane pollution in

2014 or 2015 and are members of these trade associations—and are therefore

affiliated with the lawsuits to block the EPA and BLM oil and gas methane

standards. This number is likely an underestimate, since not every trade

association makes its full membership list public.

■ These 104 companies emitted 38.6 million metric tons of methane, measured

in carbon dioxide equivalent, in 2014 and 38.1 million metric tons in 2015. The

2015 emissions are equivalent to the emissions generated from running more than

11 coal-fired power plants for a year or the emissions from burning 20 million tons

of coal. The United States could power 4 million homes for a year with the

methane that these companies wasted in 2015

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CAP’s findings underestimate the total amount of methane pollution from the

companies affiliated with the lawsuits for two key reasons. First, the trade associations

that are fighting to block the rules represent some companies that may not report their

emissions to the GHGRP, which only requires companies to report if they release

25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent methane in any given year. Second,

more than half of the litigating trade associations do not make their full membership

lists publicly available. (see Methodology)

Table 1 shows 2014 and 2015 emissions of the oil and gas companies that are confirmed

members in at least one of the trade associations currently challenging the EPA’s

methane rule. Many companies are members of more than one trade association.

...

Profiles of key trade associations involved in the

EPA litigation

Twenty-four oil and gas associations are suing the EPA over the methane

standards for new oil and gas operations. Four of the largest associations are

profiled below.

American Exploration & Production Council

The American Exploration & Production Council is a national trade

association that represents 32 of the biggest independent oil and gas

producers in the country. Of those producers, three companies—Exxon

Mobil Corp., Chesapeake Energy Corp., and EOG Resources Inc.—are among

the top four biggest methane emitters in 2015.

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Independent Petroleum Association of America

The Independent Petroleum Association of America, or IPAA, is one of the

largest oil and gas trade associations in the country, representing thousands

of companies in the industry. Six of the top 10 biggest methane-polluting

companies are represented on the IPAA’s board of directors. IPAA also is

suing to block the BLM methane waste prevention rule.

:{:{}:

American Petroleum Institute

The American Petroleum Institute, or API, is a trade association that

represents more than 625 oil- and gas-related companies, ranging from

multimillion dollar corporations to independently owned producers to

refiners and pipeline operators. All of the top 10 methane-emitting

companies in 2015 are members of API.

Western Energy Alliance

The Western Energy Alliance, or WEA, represents more than 300 oil and gas

companies engaged in exploration and production in the American West.

Several of the top methane emitters—including Anadarko Petroleum Corp.,

Devon Energy Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., and EOG Resources Inc.—are

members of the WEA’s board of directors. WEA also is suing to block the

BLM methane waste prevention rule.

Conclusion

Addressing methane emissions is essential to protecting the health of Americans and to

achieving the goals of the U.S. Climate Action Plan. Unfortunately, the oil and gas

industry is fighting the first-ever methane limits for the oil and gas sector and suing the

EPA and BLM to defend its ability to pollute. With the close ties among the oil and gas

industry, the new Trump administration, and their allies in Congress, the trade

...

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off bs

https://www.txoga.org/about-us/

pix of yng white woman chianed to pipeline, security, dominance, gift card? dl memes for soc med;

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no name no cites

as Congress holds hearings on the price of oil, it is important to set the record straight on the various factors causing high gasoline prices. Fact: Prices are not caused by energy companies. Also fact: It’s time for Congress and the administration to pass and implement effective policies that provide relief to American families and small businesses.

MYTH: Currently, gas prices are extraordinarily high because oil and gas producers are “gouging consumers” to reap massive profit for their companies and shareholders.

REALITY: Gas price hikes are largely the result of demand significantly outstripping supply as the economy recovered from the pandemic, coupled with misguided policies from the Biden administration. Shutting down energy pipelines, restricting development of oil and gas on federal lands, imposing burdensome and duplicative regulations, calling for punitive taxes and fees on our industry, and mobilizing the federal government to quickly end fossil fuel use—these actions are driving up costs that directly hurt American families and businesses. High energy prices have further been exacerbated by the significant impact on global energy markets due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. International conflict and harmful domestic regulatory policies are contributing directly to a significant spike in energy costs for the American people.

MYTH: Oil and gas producers are intentionally sitting on 9,000 federal leases and choosing to not produce.

REALITY: The reality is that vast majority of leases on federal lands are currently producing oil and gas. There are about 37,500 total oil and gas leases in effect, with about 75 percent of them producing, and the other 25 percent going through a complex regulatory process or being held up in litigation. This is the highest percentage of producing leases the industry has ever had.

MYTH: Oil and gas producers could immediately ramp up production, which would lower energy prices.

REALITY: We are responsibly producing and providing energy to the market in a way that meets current demand and future projections. The oil and gas industry is heavily regulated by local, state, and federal agencies at each phase of the energy production process. It takes months, if not years, of planning, permitting, and preparation for one of our members to find producible reserves and then drill and complete a well before any oil or natural gas can reach the market. From the regulatory outlook to storage levels, to additional sanctions on Russia, to how OPEC nations will respond to increased American production – there is much still unknown about the current global oil market. Inflationary costs, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions are just some of the many factors hindering increased domestic production. According to projections from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, inflationary pressures could lead to a 15 to 20 percent increase in capital costs for producers just to maintain current oil and natural gas production levels.

MYTH: The Biden administration has done all it can to lower energy prices for the American people.

REALITY: By not holding legally required lease sales, shutting down energy pipelines, not approving permit applications, and implementing regulatory roadblocks to production, the administration has taken several actions that stymie production, and hence negatively impact the price of oil for consumers. Our companies do not have the ability to set the price of oil or natural gas, only to make long-term assessments or investment based on, among other things, capital availability and the current regulatory environment. The best way for Congress and the administration to ensure Americans have a stable, abundant supply of oil and natural gas is by working with our industry to set sensible regulations and policies that enable us to meet demand domestically and abroad.

The American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC) is a national trade association representing the largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States. Learn more by visiting https://www.axpc.org/.

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douglas Todd Staples (born August 24, 1963)^[2] is the former two-term Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. He did not seek reelection in 2014 but instead unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

Prior to his election in 2006 as agriculture commissioner, Staples had served as a Republican in both houses of the Texas State Legislature and in a nonpartisan position on the city council in Palestine in Anderson County, Texas.

Staples was unopposed for renomination in the GOP primary held on March 2, 2010. In the November 2 general election, he handily defeated the populist Democrat Hank Gilbert (born 1959) of Whitehouse and the Libertarian Party choice, Rick Donaldson of Rockwall County. Gilbert had also lost to Staples in 2006.

On September 18, 2014, Staples announced that he would resign by mid-November to become president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, following a controversy surrounding his views on a "Meatless Monday" campaign being adopted by some Texas schools.^[3]

Background

Staples was reared in Palestine, the seat of government of his native Anderson County in East Texas. He graduated from Palestine High School, where he was an active member of the Future Farmers of America. While in college, he served from 1981 to 1982 as state vice-president of the FFA. He attended Texas A&M University in College Station and graduated magna cum laude in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics.^[4] He started a plant nursery and later became involved in cattle ranching with his family. He also owned a real estate business. For a time, he was an instructor at Trinity Valley Community College in Palestine.

Staples has two adult children from his first marriage, which ended in divorce.^[5] His son, Jared Cole Staples (born 1987), is an attorney who was worked for the governor's office in Austin, and his daughter, Elizabeth Ann Staples (born 1989) resides in Denver, Colorado. His second wife is the former Janet Wendel (born c. 1953), a daughter of Laura Linder Wendel (1928-2001) and Frank Lee Wendel (1924-2011), a native of Falls County and resident of Madisonville in Madison County, a long-term employee of Lone Star Gas Company, and a decorated soldier in World War II. From her first marriage to Terry Maurice Thorn (born 1951) of Palestine, Janet Staples has two sons, Brian Walker Thorn (born 1979) and Jonathan Clarke Thorn (born 1982). These are Todd Staples' stepsons.^[6]

Staples is a Southern Baptist deacon in his local church.

Political career

Staples served on the non-partisan Palestine City Council from 1989 to 1991. In February 1995, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives District 11 seat in a special election to replace Elton Bomer, who had been appointed state insurance commissioner by newly elected Governor George W. Bush. In a contest against two Democrats, Staples avoided a runoff by about sixty votes, having collected 50.6 percent of the vote.

In 2000, Staples entered the race for the District 3 seat in the Texas Senate, vacated by Drew Nixon. Despite personal scandal surrounding Nixon, Staples held the seat for the Republican Party, having received more than 60 percent of the vote in the general election. He represented Anderson, Angelina, Cherokee, Hardin, Henderson, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby and Tyler counties, and portions of Montgomery and Smith counties.

In the Senate, Staples was the chairman of the Transportation & Homeland Security Committee, the Workers Compensation Select Interim Committee and the Texas Senate Republican Caucus. Staples sponsored and helped to pass a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. He was the vice-chair of the State Affairs Committee and the Veteran Affairs & Military Installations Committee.

Staples was unopposed for the Republican nomination for Agriculture Commissioner in 2006 when the incumbent Susan Combs instead was elected Texas Comptroller to succeed Carole Strayhorn. Staples defeated Democrat Hank Gilbert and Libertarian Clay Woolam in the November 7, 2006, general election. He received 2,307,406 votes (54.77 percent), a margin of 547,000 votes over Gilbert.^[7]

In 2010, Staples ran for re-election as Agriculture Commissioner and won with more than 60 percent of the votes, again against Democrat Hank Gilbert.^[8]

On June 5, 2013, Staples addressed the 25th annual conference of the North American Agricultural Biotechnology Council held in College Station. In the keynote address Staples said that the American public has little understanding of what is physically required to produce the needed food and fiber because shelves in grocery stores are always full. He claimed that many fail to understand the importance of agriculture to Texas, which has the largest population of rural citizens in the nation and leads in the production of both beef and cotton. Such misunderstanding, he added, can during times of drought lead to conflict between municipalities and agricultural producers over the available water resources. While water usage declined by 40 percent between 1974 and 2010, the output of cattle, cotton, and corn has doubled since 1960, he noted.^[4]

Staples explained that in his role as commissioner he is compelled to tell the story of agricultural success: "It's up to us to engage with consumers because we know there are those who do not appreciate the work that's being done and what that means for available and affordable food supply."^[4]

On September 18, Staples announced his resignation to become the president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association.

2014 primary for lieutenant governor

Though Staples enlisted baseball great Nolan Ryan as his campaign chairman, he finished third in the primary for lieutenant governor with 235,981 votes (17.8 percent).^[9] Voters set forth a runoff for the position between the three-term incumbent David Dewhurst of Houston, who trailed the top votegetter, State Senator Dan Patrick, also of Houston. In fourth place was the outgoing commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, Jerry E. Patterson, a former state senator who had also run against Dewhurst for land commissioner in the 1998 Republican primary; Dewhurst won that round, but Patterson succeeded Dewhurst as land commissioner in 2002, when Dewhurst was first elected lieutenant governor.

At a gathering in College Station in January 2014, Staples cited his experience at both the municipal and state levels of government and his support for the Texas constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Staples said that most politicians "are not listening to the people of this country. That's the reason our nation has gone a different direction and left our values and left where we are."^[10] Major League Baseball great Nolan Ryan worked in the Staples campaign.

Staples said that had he been elected lieutenant governor, he would not have compromised his conservative views. He claimed on the anniversary of the War on Poverty, launched by another Texan, Lyndon B. Johnson, that the program has created "a sense of entitlement that should frighten each of us because that's not what the American dream is all about."^[10]

Staples outlined a six-point plan to reform Texas immigration, with an emphasis on border security but no amnesty. Staples said that as agriculture commissioner he has found funding to place cameras connected to cellphones at strategic locations along the border. This action undertaken from 2012 to 2014, he said, netted some 21,000 illegal aliens and 47 tons of narcotics.^[10]

Left in the runoff to succeed Staples as the Republican nominee for agriculture commissioner were former State Representatives Sid Miller of Stephenville and Tommy Merritt of Longview, who finished first and second, respectively, in the March 4 primary. Eliminated from the race were Eric Opelia, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party from Austin and Karnes City, Joe Cotten of Frisco, and J. Allen Carnes, the mayor of Uvalde.^[9] Miller went on to defeat Merritt in the runoff election and then to win handily the general election on November 4, 2014.

In August 2016, as the president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, Staples testified before the Sunset Advisory Commission to urge that the Railroad Commission continue to provide supervision of the industries which he represents: "We believe the Railroad Commission should continue to handle contested case hearings because these proceedings require petroleum engineering, geological, geophysical and land issue expertise that is unique to Railroad Commission examiners and staff." Staples also said that the Oil and Gas Association supports the tracking and reporting of violations each year.^[11]

Positions

Same-sex Marriage

In 2003, Staples sponsored a bill that prohibited the State of Texas from recognizing same-sex marriages, then again in 2005, sponsored and campaigned for another bill that successfully amended the Texas Constitution to limit marriage to one man and one woman.

Electoral history

...

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Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA) is a industry group representing the petroleum and natural gas industries in Texas. Texas is the biggest producer of fossil fuels in the United States, account for 41% of crude oil production, 25% of natural gas, and 31% of refining capacity.^[1]

Formed in 1919, the association had 5000 members as of 2020.^[2]

Climate change

In a April 2020 statement by association head Todd Staples, the group acknowledged the existence of global warming and the fossil fuel industry's role in it.^[3] This is a surprising reversal for Staples, who was previously part of coalitions attempting to block regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.^[3] The local public radio station KUT attributed to this change in position to an attempt to stay in line with American Petroleum Institute attempts to focus on Carbon capture and storage instead of climate change mitigation practices which shift away from a petroleum economy.^[3]

References

"Texas - State Energy Profile Overview - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
"Texas Oil & Gas Association". www.usoga.org. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
^ ^Jump up to:^a^ ^b^ ^c^ Mose Buchele. "Texas' Biggest Oil And Gas Industry Group Accepts Role In Climate Change". KUT. Retrieved 2020-05-30.

External links

Official website

Categories:

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list of Texas Oil & Gas Association's board of directors:[2]

Jonny Jones, Chair (Jones Energy, Ltd.)

E. L. Ames, Jr. (Venus Oil Company)

Eduardo Assef (CITGO Petroleum Corporation)

Mark Berg (Pioneer Natural Resources Company)

Roe Buckley (Mewbourne Oil Company)

Lance Byrd (Rocker B. Investments)

Randy Cleveland (XTO Energy Inc.)

Harold D. Courson (Natural Gas Anadarko Company)

Glen Darden (Quicksilver Resources, Inc.)

John Dill(ChesapeakeEnergy Corporation)

Greg Dykes (SandRidge Energy, Inc.)

Roger Fox (Eagle Rock Energy Partners, L.P.)

Allan D. Frizzell (Enrich Oil Corporation)

Gregory Givens (EP Energy)

Greg Hardin (OXY USA Inc.)

Helene Harding (ConocoPhillips)

William Herbert Hunt (Petro-Hunt, L.L.C.)

Forrest E. Hoglund (Hoglund Interests)

Albert Hrubetz (Hrubetz Oil Company)

Dan Allen Hughes, Jr. (Dan A. Hughes Co., L.P.)

A. V. Jones, Jr. (Van Operating, Ltd.)

Jon Rex Jones (Jones Management Corporation)

David W. Killam (Killam Oil Company, LTD.)

David Lawler (BP America, Inc.)

Charlie Moncrief (Montex Drilling Company)

W. A. Moncrief, Jr. (Moncrief Oil Company)

Bruce Niemeyer (Chevron)

Joseph I. O’Neill, III (O'Neill Properties, Ltd.)

Bruce Palfreyman (Shell Upstream Americas - Unconventionals)

Bill A. Penhall (Devon Energy Corporation)

Harry H. Phillips (Philcon Development Company)

Frederick Plaeger (EOG Resources, Inc.)

Robert K. Reeves (Anadarko Petroleum Corporation)

Corbin J. Robertson, Jr. (Quintana Minerals Corporation)

Douglass C. Robison (ExL Petroleum, LP)

Gary Simmons (ValeroEnergy Corporation)

Alan Smith (Quantum Resources Managment, LLC)

Kirk Spilman (Marathon Oil Company)

Willie A. Tempton, Jr. (Phillips 66)

Ty Thacker (3-T Exploration, Inc.)

William M. Thacker, Jr. (5-T Properties, LTD)

E. Joseph Wright (Concho Resources, Inc)

John H. Young (John H. Young, Inc./Joy Resources, Inc.)

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