By protecting oil and gas, Texas will cede its energy leadership to other states

Energy boosters and environmentalists must join forces to keep Texas the No. 1 energy state.

Pump Jack - Sunset - oil and gas drilling - ENB
Source: Getty Image - ENB

Climate change is a clear and present threat to Texas, our economy and our people. Addressing this threat demands responsible, pragmatic policies that require all Texans to come together.

Energy is an especially important policy area and an especially difficult one, given the political, economic and regional rivalries over energy and the environmental and economic effects in how it’s generated. Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has both raised and illuminated the stakes, revealing the danger posed by an energy system so reliant on oil and gas.

More than ever, the world needs a thoughtful energy transformation, and Texans must come together to lead it.

Fortunately, technological and policy developments offer common ground. Everyone should support rapid and drastic reductions in carbon emissions, however those reductions can be achieved.

That means supporting technologies that reduce emissions and position Texas to lead the transition toward carbon-free energy. Congress’ recent passage of a bipartisan bill to fund emissions-reducing infrastructure shows such cooperation is possible.

Some advancements will build on the rapid development of renewable energy technologies. Others may branch from traditional fossil energy industries and innovations, though those must be shown to drive toward zero-emission standards without causing pollution that counteracts any climate benefits.

And some will subtly transform life at home and on the road. Texans will see more electric vehicles, more facilities to serve them and more energy-efficient buildings. This could include power installations that generate electricity from rooftop solar panels and store it in wall-sized batteries and devices and appliances that automatically power down — with the owner’s permission — when electricity supplies are tight.

These developments will simultaneously help Texas families save money on electric and fuel bills and fortify Texas’ electric grid for the future.

Last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill supported a range of advanced energy initiatives, including wind, solar and storage projects, hydrogen-based fuels, carbon capture, and even geothermal energy. Such advancements will fuel a boom in any region that takes advantage of them.

Texas has a long history of energy innovation, as exemplified by the state’s leadership in wind energy, its fast-growing solar industry, and its burgeoning electric vehicle manufacturing and technology sector. Working together, we can find better and cheaper ways of bringing these advancements to market.

But doing so requires state leaders to stop undermining clean energy, such as by artificially raising the price of solar and wind power, through legislation or burdensome regulations.

Environmental and climate advocates must work with industry and policy makers to find paths to zero-carbon, recognizing environmental trade-offs that different energy sources require while still growing Texas’ economy.

A shared vision and focus, coupled with technological advancements, can achieve everyone’s goals of safer communities, less pollution, zero-carbon emissions, equity and justice, and a healthier environment and economy.

This multifaceted effort also offers a transitional opportunity for the oil and gas industry, a historically important Texas industry that sells carbon-intensive products in an increasingly climate-concerned world. More and more companies and countries are demanding cleaner energy sources to meet ambitious climate goals. Texas can, and must, meet that demand.

And Texas innovators should put their considerable expertise to work solving the technological and financial challenges that those emissions pose.

For all of the political warring between them, the fossil fuel industry and its opponents have reached the same fork in the road. Modern civilization was created in no small part through the burning of fossil fuels. But so was climate change, which now threatens Texas and everywhere else.

Recognizing the world’s continuing dependence on fossil fuels, Texas needs strategies that dramatically reduce those fuels’ carbon footprint. The clear place to start is with strong state and federal rules that reduce harmful methane emissions and the wasted energy they represent. Texas historically has fought such rules, despite the positive impact they’d have on climate-related emissions and the gas supply. Texas needs to be a leader in this area.

We also should expand Texas’ portfolio of clean, advanced, and renewable energy resources even further. That begins with the ongoing effort at the Texas Public Utility Commission to redesign the state’s electricity market. We should make use of this process to encourage new technologies, such as energy storage, and ensure Texans can get the affordable clean energy that consumers and major employers increasingly demand.

In all of these ways, the state needs to take a more active role in guiding Texas’ oil and gas industry through the transition to newer, cleaner fuel sources and technologies that propel economic growth while ending or even reversing the damage that’s been done to the environment and the planet. Protectionism won’t protect the oil and gas industry — instead, it will cede energy leadership and jobs to regions that are expanding their energy resources in ways that the world wants and needs.

Environmentalists and traditional energy boosters should share this goal. It’s time to stop fighting about how we’re going to get there and start working together to actually get there.

Colin Leyden is Texas policy director for Environmental Defense Fund. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.