The Texas energy boom didn’t happen by accident; it was pro-business, pro-innovation, and pro-competition principles that made us the national leader in energy.
We’ve generally hated overregulation, but if some in the Texas legislature had their way this session, our energy miracle would have ended.
In the final week of the 89th session, a series of harmful proposals that would have picked winners and losers in our energy markets died. SB 819, for instance, would have singled out private solar and wind projects for additional permitting hurdles, stifling property rights and creating barriers and delays that other sources of energy would not endure. Additional bills would have mandated a new watt of gas for every watt of wind and solar or charged wind and solar producers a fee if they did not have a gas backup. These new regulations would have been impossible for Texans to comply with, which means a significant portion of our state’s energy supply would have been taken offline.
At a moment when Republicans should be focused on cutting red tape, SB 819 specifically would have added red tape for landowners trying to make private deals with energy companies. SB 388 and SB 715, too, would have added extra barriers to the deployment of electrons to the grid. This would have fast-tracked us toward California-style energy policy — high prices, heavy regulations and fewer choices.
Obviously, these proposals were big-government wolves in conservative clothing.
Our energy market has never been perfectly neutral — every source, from oil to wind to nuclear, benefits from some mix of tax incentives, subsidies or regulatory support. However, these proposals took market meddling to an extreme. By singling out wind and solar for punitive treatment, these bills create artificial winners and losers rather than allowing technologies to compete on a level playing field. Real competition is what drives down costs, sparks innovation and puts power in the hands of consumers.
We’ve already seen the positive effects of this strategy in Texas, which is why it would have been so nonsensical to undermine it with state legislation. Texas is a world leader in the oil and gas industry, and we should maintain that status. Simultaneously, the state has made impressive inroads on renewable energy. We’re the number one wind producer in the country, and last year, we outpaced California in solar capacity. Nuclear energy, too, has flourished in the state, with Texas A&M set to become the home of a new advanced reactor. Texas has always run on energy freedom and choice, not regulations and mandates. This slate of energy proposals only succeeded in ignoring our state’s energy reality.
As conservatives, we must promote energy freedom and encourage innovative solutions across the energy industry, not only to meet our energy needs but to bolster our communities. In recent years, the state’s all-of-the-above energy approach has allowed us to increase energy reliability, empower landowners, and revitalize rural communities. A study from UT-Austin showed Texan landowners make some of the highest profits in the country from wind and solar farms, set to make an estimated tens of millions of dollars over multi-decade leases.
These profits ripple out to local communities and economies, strengthening the broader effect of these projects. We cannot afford to hinder landowners’ ability to use their property how they see fit, nor should we stifle energy innovation across the state. Punishing wind and solar by requiring a more rigorous permitting process or adding unnecessary requirements won’t protect our environment, nor bolster our economy.
The nation needs more energy, period. With electricity demand expected to spike by more than 15 percent by 2029, we cannot afford to slow ourselves with pointless regulations. Texas has been the poster child for energy abundance, regardless of energy source; we cannot slow down.
