Texas Land Commissioner - Dawn Buckingham

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the nationally syndicated Energy Mix radio show produced
by the Energy Network Media Group. The Energy Mixed Radio
Show will give you an inside look at the energy
industry and how it affects you by talking with industry leaders, experts,
and government officials on the Energy Mix Radio Show.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good afternoon, Energy enthusiast, Welcome to another electrifying episode of
the Energy Mix Radio Show where we dive deep into
the heart of Texas energy and its landscaping. I'm your host, Kimbalato,
and today we have a very special guest joining us.
It is true in honor to welcome Commissioner Don Buckingham
of the Texas General Land Office. As someone who has

(00:38):
been a driving force in shaping our state's energy future.
Commissioner Buckingham brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to
our show. We will be discussing everything from innovation of
energy projects and land management strategies, and the future of
geothermal energy here in Texas. So buckle up because this
episode's going to be packed with insight, fights, inspiration, and

(01:01):
a whole lot of energy talks. So let's get started.
Commissioner Buckingham, Welcome to the Energy Mix Radio Show.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well Kim, it's great to be on with you today,
and a big howdie to all your listeners.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I didn't quite know how to write all the talking
points of what I wanted to cover with you today.
But before I start jumping into the meat and potatoes
of this show, tell us a little bit about you,
and then we'll get into the General land Office. First
of all, because you're a powerhouse that our listeners really
should know how successful you have been in your life's work.
And then how am the importance of the General Land Office.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Wow, well that's a whole lot to sum up, you know,
if you want to know who I am, I'm just
kind of that rowdy young kid who is add and
didn't like authority too much and was fiercely independent. So
I was always saw a kid being bullied, and I
stepped into that fight.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
I always wanted to be a physician. When I graduated
high school, I did not have money to go to college,
so I had the character building opportunity to work two
jobs and put myself through college. Met the love of
my life, my husband, when I was nineteen. We've been
married thirty three years. He is also a position. We
went to medical school we applied married, and those are

(02:10):
really the formative events of my life. So I've always
had to work hard. I've dedicated myself to lifelong learner.
I've applied that to everything I do. I joke that
I'm going to sleep and I die, and we just
run hard and have fun and serve the people were
supposed to serve. And then the General Land Office is
literally the agency in Texas that I say touches the
lives of every Texan every day, and most people don't

(02:32):
even know we exist. We are the last remaining shred
of the Republic of Texas as a governmental entity. As
we were founded to figure out who owned what. So
we were founded to be the keepers of maps, the
guardians of Texas history, and the steward to what today
is thirteen million acres, and that had really made the
difference in Texas's success. Our forefathers have the knowledge and

(02:54):
the wisdom to say we're going to keep our unowned
land and we are going to dedicate that to fund education.
Makes me on behalf of all Texans, the largest mineral
owner in the state, generating three and a half billion
dollars with a beat to public education last year alone.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
That's just K to twelve.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
That's not what the Permanent University Fund does for UT
and A and M. We of course do everything coast
beach restoration, habitat restoration, oil spoke clean up. We help
Texans recover from disasters, housing thousands of families after floods, fires,
and hurricanes. We have this little fIF hundred, five hundred
and fifty million dollar project going on at the Alamo,
making a visit there for the first time as significant

(03:32):
as the events that happened there since the battle. We
take care of our veterans. We run ten nursing homes
across the state, five cemeteries. Texas is the only state
that has a veterans mortgage lending program for our veterans
who want to buy a house, for renovate a house,
or buy some property. So we literally are touching every
life in Texas in some way. And I love defending

(03:53):
the Texas I know in love.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Well, you certainly got a lot accomplished as an MD
and then went on to serve the great state of
Texas in your capacity now. And who would have known
that the General Land Office, which you're right, a lot
of people don't know about it, is so powerful in
the sense of it's so important, and I do want
to cover a little bit about the Alamo, even though

(04:16):
it's not in the questions I was going to ask you.
I think it's important for the reason that, oh I
wanted to bring you on the show. I didn't realize
the vision of how much you really are going to
do are the General Land Office for the Alamo. But
we'll get into that in a little bit now. Commissioner Buckingham,
you were recently featured on the cover of Show magazine
where you discussed various aspects of your role and vision

(04:38):
for the Texas General Land Office. Can you share a
little bit about some of the initiatives outside of the
ones you said, or you might want to cover a
little bit more of the Alamo, some long term goals
that the agency might have. We have a new president.
I know you've got some ambitious goals there too, And
then we'll start getting into a little bit more of
the questions pertaining to energy.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Sounds great, you know when it comes to oil and gas.
Being the largest mineral owner, we can step in and
swing a bat that a lot of mineral owners can't.
We fight on the endangered species fronts for being transformative
with produced water. We you know, carbon sequestration, We're leading
the world so many things. I know we're going to
get that into that in a minute. But really what

(05:18):
I view this agency as and when I ran for
this office, I said, this office is the tip of
the spear to defend our history, our border, and the
oil and gas industry. I personally believe that Texas values
come from rural Texas. It comes from our history being
settled by incredibly independent people who thought differently. You know.
I was at a lunch the other day and about

(05:40):
a thousand people in a ballroom happened to be sitting
at a table with a bunch of people from out
of state, and of course we did the pledge to
the American flag first, and then we did our pledge
to our Texas flag. And the people from other states
look bewildered, and they said, shoot, I don't even know
if my.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
State has a pledge.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
And I think that's at the center of the success
of Texas. Since I just want to continue that. I
just want to continue the Texas I know and love.
I want to serve the people this agency is supposed
to serve, and do it well, and so we do
that with that ever striving marker. Whatever we're doing, we
look at it and we say, is there a way
to do it better? And if there is a way
to do to do it better, then we want to
jump in and change how we do things and do

(06:19):
it the better way. And so it's just a lot
of fun doing this job. I get to travel to
every corner of the state. I get to meet amazing
people and just learn about things that I wouldn't have
learned out about if I had just dayed of medicine.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Tell us a little bit about your vision. What is
happening with the Alamo. I am shocked to hear what
you're doing in such a pleasant way. Tell our listeners
what work you guys are doing with the Alamo.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well, we all love the Alamo. We all view it
as the shrine to Texas liberty. When we travel, we
say we're Texans. We don't say we're Americans. We say
we're Texans. It doesn't matter where in the world I've been.
When I say I'm from Texas, the answer back is
almost always remember the Alamo, because it has become the
shining star around the world for giving the ultimate sacrifice

(07:04):
for your beliefs, for the safety of your family, and
at that point, for your new nation, right, your new republic,
and so and yet, when we brought people to the Alamo,
you stood at a corner you had to cross a
busy street. You looked and saw the lovely Wax Museum
to your right, and your guests, who had their whole

(07:26):
idea of the Shrine of Texas Liberty, kind of looked
at you and said, is that it? I actually had
someone ask me why did they move it downtown? And
the statistics showed you spent about seven minutes there before
you did something else. So the Alamo ended up coming
to the General Land Office. I will give a huge
shout out to our Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. He is

(07:48):
an incredible fan of the Alamo. He has really pushed
for the funding that we have received to be able
to do this project. He's an amazing partner, so we
appreciate that, and of course the legislature who has this
with the dollars for this five hundred and fifty million
dollar project. But just to kind of talk you through
what we're doing there, Phil Collins, the famous British singer

(08:08):
amassed an amazing collection of Alamo artifacts, and he bequeathed
us with that, but said, hey, I'm going to give
it to you, but you're going to have to have
a place to display it. And so we built a
collection center, opened up about a year and a half ago.
It's amazing. We are currently under construction of a children's
education center for the first time. We're going to have
dedicated curriculum from early childhood all the way to high

(08:30):
school to be sure that we're teaching our kids our
Texas history. When I say our Texas history, I'm talking
about our loud and proud line in the sand, liberty
or death Texas history. And then we have one hundred
thousand square foot museum what was the Wax Museum we
have now acquired. That museum is of course battle centric,
but is going to set the battle in the context

(08:51):
of time. We're going to talk about early Native Americans.
We're going to talk about the mission period, of course,
the battle, all the way through to how the Alamo
continues to affect pop culture even today. And then you
get to the Alamo itself, and this is where we've
got some real challenges. The Alamo, of course, is an
old building, it has some structural integrity issues. If you've
ever seen limestone un a saltwater pool, it melts, bad

(09:13):
things happen. Well, the limestone walls of the Alamo have
been wicking salt water up out of the ground, and
it's time to heal that sick patient. To use doctor terms.
The roof is past its lifespan and causing active damage
to the building. We just got permission from the Historical
Commission to take the old roof off that's causing damage
put a new roof on. Of course, while we're doing that,

(09:34):
we're going to have to build a temporary protective structure
over the Alamo because can you imagine if we had
the roof off and we had one of our big
hailstorms with softball sized hail, that could cause irreparable damage.
So we have to protect the Alamo, get the new
roof on, fix the structural integrity issues, get it back
to its original footprint when the Army took over the

(09:55):
out When the US Army took over the Alamo a
few years after the Battle of the they actually shrank
the sacristy by about a third. Everything's big in Texas.
We wanted its full size, so we want to get
it back to its original footprint. Then that temporary structurre
will come off and you'll be able to come and
visit and honestly, you'll be able to spend days at
the Alamo. It's so fun.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
So when does the timeline for this to be completed?

Speaker 3 (10:19):
Do you think we're hoping to have everything completed in
about two years give or take a little bit. You know,
construction always runs on time and on budget. I mean,
of course, I'm kidding, but that's what we're shooting for.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Excellent. Well, we're going to get ready for break, but
coming up when we come back from break, I want
to try to see how the General Land Office under
your leadership, how do you guys balance what is the
Texas natural resources with the need for economic development. I
also hope to cover some of your most proudest initiatives
that you've had so far. This has been your first

(10:54):
election season, so I want to kind of get into
your thoughts on that as well as potenttional Do you
see yourself staying there for a long time? Do you
want to rerun? And I don't know if you can
announce that yet or not, but I also want to
try to get into that and so much more. Let's
take a quick break. You're listening to the Energy Mix
radio show and we'll be right back.

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Speaker 2 (12:59):
Find and we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mix
radio show. My guest today is the Honorable Commissioner Don
Buckingham of the General Land Office. Commissioner Buckingham, talk to
me a little bit about you all do so much
at the GELO General Land Office. You mentioned all the
different things. I don't know you're right when you sleep.

(13:21):
You mentioned maybe when you pass away. But you're getting
a lot done, and I think it has everything to
do with your discipline, your education, your ability to stay focused.
But there's a balance between the preservation of Texas's natural
resources along with the need for economic development. Can you
talk me through a little bit of what your ideas
are on that.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
You know you are exactly right and everyone has a
different mindset about that thirteen million acres? What is the
best way to steward them. If we don't take care
of our land, our land won't take care of us.
There's short gain and long gain. You know, there are
some people who say sell it all. There was a
period of time where they wanted to get rid of
our mineral There was a period of time actually that

(14:01):
the General Land Office sold most of our surface. So
there have been many phases throughout the General Land Office.
I come from a more rural background. I believe in
taking care of the land, it will take care of you.
I believe that there will be time in the future
that unknown technologies and unknown substances such as rare earth minerals,

(14:22):
which weren't even a thing ten or twenty years ago,
will be discovered and will continue to produce revenue for
the school children of Texas. A perfect example of that
is we actually happened to control one of the only
complete sets of rare earth minerals not under China's control
in the world. That land the General Land Office was
trying to sell for literally dollars an acre a decade

(14:46):
or two ago, and they couldn't even sell it, they
couldn't even get rid of it. And then all of
a sudden that deposit of rare earth minerals was found
on it. So sometimes people will say, oh, this land
is worthless, Oh this land is done. Oh oil and
gas is done. Remember or you're fracking. Everybody said, oh
the oil and gas industry is dead. What you know,
don't bother to study that?

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Right?

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Well, that was obviously not correct because technology advances, things advance.
We know not making any more land. We know that
new technologies will happen. We know that water is going
to be honestly, in my opinion, one of our most
valuable resources, which is trot why we're part of the
Produced Water Consortium and trying to help lead on solutions
for that with the water that comes up with oil

(15:27):
and gas to help meet our water needs. So you know,
in general, I believe you buy land, you don't sell
land because it's always worth more later. You know, the
most Western states, when they entered statehood from being a territory,
they sold their unowned land for about a dollar an acre.
They thought that was a heck of a deal in
the day. Right now, they don't think that's a heck

(15:49):
of a deal because the majority of their land mass
is federal and it's how the federal government shut down
oil and gas so effectively in so many places across
the country. So I believe we look at fifty years,
one hundred years, what does Texas need, How can we
be transformational within our rails as part of that, and
then how do we take care of our land, like
I said, so that it takes care of us. Another

(16:11):
perfect example is carbon sequestration. We're leading the world in
carbon sequestration. We did a one point two million acre lease,
generated one hundred and thirty million dollars for the school
children of Texas in one day. Anticipate those leases will
generate ten billion dollars in the next ten years. Carbon
sequestration wasn't even a thing a few years ago. So

(16:32):
all those advancing technologies, we look at strategic ways to
partner with developers. Sometimes sometimes we look for strategic ways
or strategic pieces of property to buy. We just have
bought a property. It's a pretty big one at three
hundred and fifty thousand acres. Several reasons we bought it,
but part of it was China was trying to buy it.

(16:53):
And I'm not going to stand by and let China
buy a big piece of Texas that I think is strategic.
So there's lots of ways that we work. Is the
land Bank is the main land steward for Texas. And again,
like I said, it's just a lot of fun because
I love every square inch of our state.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Should I have is as we were talking about economic
development and continuing to take care of the natural resources
here in Texas, We're fortunate to have many ports, but
two come to mind. The most important port, in my opinion,
the big energy port in North America is the Port
of Corpus Christian which it is the number one excrewede
exporter and second in LERG. Houston is also a very

(17:31):
important port. Tell us a little bit about the role
that the GLLL plays and pertaining to some of the
ports and some of the you mentioned the docks and
stuff can you explain how this and also that you
have ten miles out, Explain y'all's role, and give me
some information you might have on the port of Corpus
Christie or the Houston Port and the importance with the GLO.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Absolutely. You know, we kind of going back to the
fact that we were a sovereign nation. We weren'to territories.
We have three marine leagues, which is rough lee ten
point three miles off of the coast. Most of the
coastal states only have a couple miles, which means that
every port operates through a lease from me called a
patent kind of a special lease, so they can't they

(18:12):
can't operate without the General Land Office being happy with them.
So we work very closely with our ports. Of course,
we know if something happened to those ports, a big
hurricane hit them straight on, that economic impact wouldn't just
hit Texas, wouldn't just hit the United States, but it
would hit the world. So many foreign countries, as you mentioned,

(18:32):
are dependent upon our exports of gas and oil and
so on that front, we are helping embark on the
largest project that the Army Corps of Engineers has ever
done in the Coastal Spine project starting in Louisiana going
all the way to Mexico, creating a resilien sea barrier
so that our ports and our precious Texas coast can

(18:55):
be protected from terrible storms. So we're in process us
on that right now. It'll be a multi multi billion
dollar project, but we want to be sure we're doing
everything we can one to protect our ports from storms,
two being sure that they are able to navigate and
operate without any issues. Of special note, the Port of
Corpus Christy is making great progress on a desalinization plant,

(19:19):
which is going to be part of the water solutions
that Texas needs for the future.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
We are a partner in them.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
And everybody who has anything basically anything covered by the
high tide that's submerged land, so that belongs to the
General Land Office for the most part, and so the
docs have leases from US, the ports have leases from US.
The desalinization plant will have a lease from US.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Pipelines that go through there the same. So let's take
a quick break. You're listening to the Energy Mix radio
show and we'll be right back.

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Speaker 2 (21:22):
You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show. My guest
today is the Honorable Commissioner Don Buckingham of the General
Land Office. Commissioner Buckingham, can you discuss your stance on
geo thermal energy and the potential role it plays in
Texas energy future. One of the things I liked was
you talked about carbon capture a little bit and the
importance of it. And I think sometimes that we think

(21:43):
that oil and gas can only be oil and gas,
but a lot of this is actually intertwined in the
way that oil and gas is making different transitions and
looking at everything in their portfolio. Geo Thermal seems to
be a pretty exciting energy. Can you talk to me
about that.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
You know, g thermal, salt cooled nuclear, the hydrogen technologies.
I truly believe that we are in a precipice of
an energy revolution, and of course oil and gas will
be a big part of that, won't continue to be
a big part. But energy independence is equally as important
as having you know, our food, our fuel, and our fiber.
We need to be producing all of that independently. We

(22:19):
do not want to be dependent on foreign nations for anything,
but especially energy. In my opinion, it is energy that
separates first world and third world countries. First world countries
have access to reliable, relatively and expensive energy, and we've
been able to soar. Third world countries don't have that access,
and they tend to stay rooted where they are. To me,

(22:41):
that's a big part of the difference. Geothermal is great.
I mean you basically push water down into the ground,
it eats up that comes back up as steam and
drives whatever turbine or whatever you need. We have lots
of options with that. That big property that I mentioned
earlier has a huge potential for geothermal, and so we
were just looking at that, looking at part of being

(23:02):
whatever solution Texas needs fifty years, one hundred years out.
We want to look ahead, be transformational in those needs
and bring the solutions the Texas needs of walls.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
What measures are being taken to ensure that the safety
and sustainability of the oil and gas operations are being pushed,
or you know, continuing to prosper on our state lands.
Is that the role under the GLO as well.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
It really is. You know, we view ourselves as the
protector not just of our Texas history, but of oil
and gas as a whole. So we actively engage in
the lawsuits against a federal government that under Biden wanted
to shut down oil and gas, and they were trying
to do it through sneaky ways such as endangered species.
We're leaning the fight on the dune, Sage Bress Lizard.

(23:48):
I love Kim Paxon, our attorney general, of course, and
he gets a lot of credit for suing the federal
government that he needs a plaintiff withstanding, and that's us.
Sometimes we will actually acquire a property so that we
have standing, so that we can fight more effectively on
behalf of oil and gas. It's part of why we
became really engaged in the Produced Water Consortium because produced water,

(24:11):
should that reinjection be shown to cause seismic activity, that
could be a way that an activist EPA could shut
down oil and gas pretty quickly, So we wanted to
come up with the process to get that produced water
to agricultural levels for the same price as reinjection. I
think we're getting pretty close. I joke with everybody, We're
going to turn West Texas into a garden oasis. Just watch,

(24:32):
it's going to happen, and it definitely could. We're working
on growing some crops on state land. Now, you know,
again the carbon sequestrations another way to defend oil and gas.
We also one of the biggest threats to oil and
gas is these activist corporations that push investments that either

(24:53):
hurt oil and gas or they starve oil and gas
from the cash that they need. And so we realized
with the various funds that were a part of of
the Permanent School Fund, which today is fifty seven billion dollars,
the oldest sovereign wealth fund for education in the country
and by the way, the largest, and you know, we
realized that the proxy is being voted by all of

(25:13):
that money, all of that investment were being voted by
an activist company that bragged about controlling the proxies from
the majority of corporations in the country and driving those
es G and DEI agendas, and so we came up
with the Texas First Investment Policy. We said, look, we're
not going to do anything that is actively hurting where

(25:35):
our bread and butter comes from, and that is oil
and gas. And we've started to see that corporate behavior
change all of a sudden when we started pulling money
from corporate entities that were instituting these policies, their songs
changed a little bit. So we stand up and defend
the industry against attacks on every front.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Absolutely. I had Harold Ham on a guest not so
long ago, and he discussed how he saw ESG going
away very quick Lee and I have to say he's right.
But he's also very, very very well informed on this topic.
I don't have very much time with you left, and
I know that you have important things to do. Anything
that I didn't cover that you are working on that
is really important to oil and gas in our listeners

(26:16):
that you'd like to lead the show with.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
You know. One of the other things we do is
just being the largest property owner in the state, the
largest mineral owner. I can swing abat that. A lot
of our smaller mineral owners and property owners can't. So
we stand up and defend property rights every day. We
stand up and defend mineral owners every day as well
as the industry. And again, it's just my joy and
pleasure to serve as Texas's Land Commissioner and be able

(26:41):
to fight all these good fights for the Texas I
know and love.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Well, thank you very much for joining me on the show.
I am so impressed with the job you are doing,
and I hope you plan on running and staying in
this office for a very very well come You need
a strong, powerful woman. You are intelligent, you are definitely
a role model to me. Thank you again for joining
me on the show and talking to us about the
hard work that you and your team are doing to

(27:04):
protect the great state of Texas with the General Land Office.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Well, thanks for having me on. It's my joy and pleasure.
And we do plan on seeking reelection in twenty six,
so i'd ask everyone for their vote for Buckingham.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
That's good to know. Thank you, Commissioner Buckingham. Thank you,
and welcome back to the Energy Mix radio show. I
was able to grab and bring into the show. Robert Rapier,
the editor in chief of show magazine who did the
article on Commissioner Buckingham. Robert, Welcome to the last segments

(27:38):
of the Energy Mix radio show. Thank you for joining me.

Speaker 9 (27:41):
Thanks Kim for having me.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Well. I wanted to bring you in on the show
because I just finished interviewing Commissioner Buckingham. You featured her,
she was the cover on show magazine, and I wanted
to get your insights because a lot of people, as
she meant previously in the show. Earlier in the show,
that a lot of people don't even really understand or

(28:05):
even new of the General Land Office, much less their role.
And this dynamic woman who has come in and taken
this agency by storm. What is your opinion on as
you were writing this article and some of the important
things that caught your attention. Rather it's her as just
a dynamic woman and or the work that this organ

(28:26):
this agency is getting done.

Speaker 9 (28:28):
Yeah, I mean the first thing was I was like,
holy cow, she has had quite a career here, you know,
a surgeon and then politician and then Texas Land commissioner,
you know, volunteer five firefighter state Center. I mean, that
was so much that she's done. It was very impressive,

(28:51):
and I didn't know all the things that the that
her office does, so so that helped me get to
get some context on some of the things they do,
because they do things I never would have imagined they
would do, so she oversees I think she called it
the most important state agency that most Texans have never
heard of. And you know, I've lived in Texas before

(29:11):
and I knew about the office, but I was not
familiar with all some of the things that they actually do.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Might I also point out to our listeners that she
also reminded us that she has been married and is
married to another MD as well. She's had a ver
long time marriage, so she has been successful in almost
every single thing she has done. And for me, it
just kind of brings to mind, well, I'm not saying
this about myself, but you know there is that saying,

(29:41):
if you want it done right, turned over to a woman.
When I look at how she has managed to run
at the General Land Office and really focusing on oil
and gas, which has not always been the case in
every commissioner at the General Land Office, She's truly showing
the importance of this agent, see and how really intertwined

(30:02):
it is with oil and gas and making sure that
it's day strong here for the state of Texas. That's
what I picked up from this integer, just not to
mention she's a dynamic woman, just dynamic. She's my superpower
woman right there.

Speaker 9 (30:16):
Yeah, And I think you know the revenues that they use.
I always say that we ought to be using the
revenue as we get from oil and gas to do
as much good work as possible. And you know, they're
providing those funds for education in Texas, and I think
that's really important. So you know, take to take the
revenues do important work, and you know they're doing that.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Well, the majority of the funding is going to the
education here in Texas for our children. And there is
no better investment than of course, our little people as
they're growing up to be well educated and well rounded individuals.
So the fact that billions of dollars are going to
fund the state school system through the General Land Office
specific from oil and gas, well, that's a win when

(31:03):
in my opinion, and it does need to be pointed
out more as a lot of people don't understand the
significance or the importance of oil and gas expiration here
in the state of Texas and what it provides to
the residents of Texas. Good job, she loved the article.
I've gotten a lot of We've gotten a lot of
compliments off of that, and so good job on bringing

(31:27):
forward this very important agency and giving her a great article.

Speaker 9 (31:32):
I didn't know that they oversaw the Alamo and she's
overseeing that project, so that was another thing that was
news to me. I mean, the office does a lot.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Of things they do right. They handle like from the
land all the way out ten miles out on all
the ocean pertaining to Texas that it surrounds that is
under their watch. So therefore they monitor like permitting offshore
anything being built out there. There's just so much that
they do, and geothermal carbon capture, there's a lot, and

(32:06):
she's managing to do it all precisely, each one the same,
all well run, So kudos to her and her team.
I want to switch gears, though, because you've recently written
some articles that have come out in Forbes, and we've
also written some for us as well, and I wanted
to cover those because they're getting really great reviews. However,

(32:28):
they're also kind of something are a little controversial. But
let's start with the truth. You wrote an article the
Truth about Summer Gasoline price hikes and pollution fixes Shell Magazine,
And that kind of coincides with our last two radio
shows that we covered refineries. We had our educational series

(32:49):
that covered Part A and Part B in which we
talked about all things refineries. It was a great idea
and we got a lot of great feedback from that.
But talk to me about this recent article, the Truth
about Summer Gasoline.

Speaker 9 (33:02):
Yeah, so yeah, And I'm still getting emails from people
about those that series and comments on LinkedIn. People really
appreciated it. So the issue is in the news. They're
talking about waiving the summer one of the summer gasoline
requirements to help with gas prices. And so the article
I wrote was to explain why we have that transition

(33:25):
in the first place, just to remind people, you know,
there's no free lunch there. The reason we have summer gasoline,
if you think about the smog of the seventies, and
you think about the la air in the seventies, that's
why we have summer gasoline. The winter gasoline blends they

(33:45):
have more buttane in them and they boil easier. So
whenever whenever summer rolls around, those blends will boil off
faster when you're filling up when you open your tank.
If you don't have a properly sealed that will boil
off faster and it will create smag. And so that's
the whole reason they're there in the first place. So

(34:07):
I've seen people say, oh, it's just a cash grab
from the oil industry. They're trying to make the blends
more expensive and so they can make more money, and
that's not it. They're there for a reason, and that
reason was terrain in small So understand, if you do
waive that requirement, it probably will make gasoline a little cheaper,
but there is a consequence, and I just wanted people

(34:28):
to understand that and remind them this is the consequence.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Well, I don't think any of us want to return
back to that, but I guess we're in a wait
and see mode. Let's take a quick break when we return.
You recently wrote an article also big Oil Climate's loss
to misplaced blame and shared responsibility, and I really want
to cover that too, and some of the articles and Forbes.
Let's take a quick break. You're listening to the Energy
Mix radio show, and we'll be right back.

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Speaker 2 (36:12):
And we're back. You're listening to the Energy Mix radio show.
My guest now is Robert Raybier, the editor in chief
of Shell Magazine. Robert, thanks for joining me. As we
end out the show, I want to talk about two
specific articles that you wrote about. One was in Shall
and we did make reference to this sometime back in
one of our previous shows about an article that had

(36:32):
come I think to both of us talking about California
in how I think there was a group that wanted
to sue the oil and gas companies and take their
profits and give it back to California because they were
responsible for creating the wildfires or climate change in California.
And it kind of incensed me in a way just
of the California against them. But they use their product too,

(36:55):
so you can't use it and sue at the same time,
if we got if we had California remove all their
oil and gas, which is impossible of course, just hypothetically
saying or just saying they probably lose after a population
within a day, because no one knows how to live
without oil and gas. So you recently wrote an article
big Oil Planet Lawsuit, misplaced blame and shared Responsibilities. Tell

(37:17):
us about that. It's getting a lot of traction.

Speaker 9 (37:19):
Okay, So yeah, the issue was this group put out
a press release Chevron and Exxon could easily cover LA
wildfire damages, and they made the claim that mega rich
oil firms like Chevron and Exxon are knowingly driving and
profiting from the climate crisis. So the idea of there
is big oil is driving climate change. Why don't we

(37:40):
make them pay for the damage that we associate with
climate change? So I just sat down and did the math.
And two California wallmakers have introduced legislation to enable lawsuits
against these companies for things like that. So I sat
down into the math and I looked at the big oil.
So big oil, when we talk about big oil, it's Exon, Mobile, Chevron,
Shell VP in total total energies their combined production in

(38:03):
twenty twenty three, I added all that up oil and gas,
and then I converted it all into CO two. I said,
if this all burns, how much is this And it
ends up being five percent of global carbon emissions and
that's consistent if we go back years, that is about
five percent, and that's assuming they are fully responsible for

(38:24):
that and there was no benefit for consumers. So that's
saying you just created a product that you dunk carbon
in the air and it you know, contributed, Okay, So
if we're going to sue them, it's based on some
very questionable assumptions and questionable assumptions. Are companies responsible for
five percent of emissions should share the bulk of the

(38:46):
blame while ignoring that you know, half the global emissions
or forty percent I think comes from Chinese coal. You know,
you're not going to hold them responsible. They're far more
responsible than big oil for the rbon emissions in the atmosphere.
You're saying consumers aren't responsible. So consumers who use this
oil to travel around to jobs and to travel around

(39:09):
the country and to just be mobile. You said, no,
it's the producer that's responsible, not the consumer. And you're
saying that our western oil companies should be held responsible
instead of the majority of oil production in the world
is from national oil companies like Saudi Ramco and Russia
and China. Their oil companies produce far more oil than
big oil but we're going to single out big Oil

(39:32):
and we're going to sue them and try to make
them pay. And it's just because of so many years
of hate that we have that people have spread against
big oil and the oil companies. I mean, like I
remember going to the Netherlands. I lived in the Netherlands
for a couple of years, and they were proud of
Shell over there. You know, there was a lot of pride.

(39:52):
They weren't suing Shell, they were you know, Shell was
a Dutch Royal, Dutch Shell, and they were very proud
of that company. And we treat our old companies very
different here.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Just look at it if you're going to partake in
the product, which, by the way, you wouldn't be able
to drive that Tesla if we didn't have oil and
gas because regardless whether you like it or not, that
battery and all that plastic and that vehicle is made
of a byproduct of oil and gas. As you mentioned
everything that they're using. I guess you won't have any planes.

(40:21):
Just shut down all your airports because there's jet fuels
and things like that. It's just they don't really understand
the product itself. And when these nonprofits and or groups
make these just ridiculous, stupid, uninformed press releases with great ideas.
They should really, like, just run it through AI and

(40:43):
see how ridiculous it sounds, because it's impossible. And if
Californians don't want the product, they should just kick it
out of their state and we'll see how fast they
want them back, right, I mean, it's just that simple.
So no one can be held accountable for the use.
I mean it's ridiculous. You need it in your homes?
Who where do they think their lights come from? And
their utilities? And it's just unbelievable to some of these

(41:07):
groups and some of these people, And it's far more
complicated than what they think. So suing big oil and
gas is not the solution, folks, Just letting you know
you need it to survive and live off. Let's switch gears.
But speaking about stupid statements from stupid people, you recently
wrote an article in Forbes on John Stewart, he's a

(41:28):
daily show talk show host. Tell us about it. It's
getting a lot of traction and why did you article?

Speaker 9 (41:33):
Yeah, this, So to be clear, I think John Stewart
has done a lot of good work of leaders. I
mean he's called attention to a lot of important issues,
but when it comes to oil and gas, he has consistently.
I mean. The funny thing is the Daily Show contacted me,
I don't know, ten years ago or so, and they
wanted me to be on a segment. And I said,
if I can sit down and talk to John about

(41:53):
fracking and we have a serious conversation, I will do it.
And they said, no, that's not what we want. We
want it with a correspondent and they just wanted to
make fun of fracking. And so ultimately I said no,
and they did get a person I know on the show,
and that's what they did. They just made fun of fracking,
and you know, they cut out parts and they added
it to make it look like, you know, really stupid.

(42:14):
So John Stewart said this week he went on a
tirade about you know, what's going on in the government
right now. But he said, how about we take three
billion dollars in subsidies we give to oil and gas
companies that turn billions in profits. And I said, so
I took exception of that because oil and gas companies
do not get subsidies. There is a massive flow of

(42:36):
money from oil and gas companies to the federal government
and the state and local governments, not vice versa. And
so I actually said this on Facebook, and a couple
of people said, Oh, the biggest subsidy is the military
protection we provide for those, you know, Middle Eastern oil
and gas companies. I said, that's not much of a
thing anymore. I said, we are producing most of our

(42:56):
own oil. But I said, in any case, that is
a consumer subsidy. Oil and gas companies are not asking
you to do that. They're they're going to charge whatever
the cost is. I said, look what happened when Russia
in Vada, Ukraine. What did Joe Biden do. He ordered
the biggest release from the Strategic Patronum Reserve in history.
Now do you think he was a friend of big oil?

(43:17):
Was he doing a favorite of big oil? No, they're
trying to keep gas prices down for consumers. So that's
the thing. Oil companies get tax breaks, they get tax deductions.
And somebody said, well, that's a subsidy. I don't think so.
I mean, if I get a mortgage interest tax deduction
on my taxes that I'm paying, I'm not they're not

(43:40):
giving me a subsidy. I mean I'm subsidized in the
federal government with my taxes, and if you let me
keep a little more of that money, I resent the
iron that's a subsidy. I mean, I'm and this is
the way it works. When the oil gas industry they
get to deduct certain things like every other business, and
that is not a subsidy. When people think cities, they
think money's being transferred from the government to the own

(44:04):
gas companies, and that's not.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
The case exactly. Well, I will say that these are
very interesting articles and I love reading your articles. They're informative,
but they're also very very well balanced. We are not
a media source that just goes and is just going
to talk negatively about oil and gas or give them
a kitchen pass. All of your articles are very well

(44:25):
written and very balanced in the approach, and I do
appreciate the articles that you write, and I think looking
at the traction you're getting, so do most intelligent Americans
who want to read a truthful article about how really
oil and gas benefits them in their life or potentially
there could be an issue. So thank you for writing
the article on Commissioner Buckingham. Great article. Keep up the

(44:48):
good work, and I look forward to reading some more
of your articles and Forbes and in Shell magazine, and
thank you for joining me and finishing out the show today.

Speaker 9 (44:54):
You bet, Kim.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
The Energy Mix Radio Show is where we explore topics
that affect us all in the oil and gas industry.
Every week, our host will interview the movers and shakers
in this fast paced industry. You'll hear from industry experts,
elected officials, and many more on the Energy Mix Radio Show.