American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2025 - 35

for proposed legislation from the experts,
with collaborating testimony from reallife
accounts of `rank`-and-file members.
" It's important for legislators to see
that it's not just the lobbyists who are
pushing for bills, but that real oil and gas
companies and real people are affected
by some of the things that are being implemented, "
he comments.
Every session, TIPRO tracks around
200 bills of relevance to the industry,
Longanecker explains. Two years ago,
the association took positions on 99
bills. About 75% of favored bills passed
and 100% of those TIPRO opposed
were defeated.
While a number of oil and gas related
bills are important to members, a major
priority continues to include support for
legislation to divert some oil and gas
severance tax revenues from the state's
Economic Stabilization Fund, or Rainy
Day Fund, to infrastructure needs in oiland
gas-producing counties, Longanecker
says. Similar bills have been unsuccessful
in past sessions, but he notes two already
are filed this session: HB 265 by Representative
Tom Craddick, R-Midland, and
HB 188 by Landgraf.
HB 265 is enabling legislation for
Craddick's House Joint Resolution 35
that creates the GROW (Generate Reoccurring
Oil Wealth) Texas Fund in
the Texas Constitution. An approved
bill still would have to be approved by
voters. The resolution establishes the
GROW Texas Fund Commission, and
would authorize the transfer of 12% of
revenues from the Rainy Day Fund for
grants to build or maintain roads,
schools, health care facilities and other
infrastructure in areas significantly affected
by oil and gas production, Longanecker
explains.
HB 188 would create the Texas Severance
Tax Revenue and Oil and Natural
Gas (Texas STRONG) Defense Fund to
allow Rainy Day Fund monies to be spent
for economic and community development
in counties significantly engaged in oil
and gas production.
" We would really like to see one of
those finally pass so we can provide
much needed revenue back to counties
where it's generated, to address issues
related to oil and gas development, " Longanecker
says.
Well-Plugging Needs
TIPRO also plans to support a push
for severance tax breaks for re-fracs, and
it is backing a $100 million budget request
by the RRC for the agency's well-plugging
program.
Operators plug about 90% of depleted
wells, but the responsibility for the remainder
falls on the commission, which
has seen its funds sapped from the high
cost of larger plugging projects, Longanecker
says.
" Given the amount of state revenue
that's generated by the industry, we should
allocate enough money to plug every orphan
well in the state of Texas so we can
get past this issue, " he comments. " The
$100 million will go a long way in doing
that for the Railroad Commission. "
Senator Sparks also has filed SB 391,
which removes the expiration date from
last session's HB 5066. That bill required
Texas power distributor ERCOT to develop
an energy reliability plan for the Permian
Basin. Longanecker says removing the
expiration date would allow ERCOT to
review and update the Permian Basin
Reliability Plan every five years without
additional legislation.
TIPRO also expects to see Texas
Energy Fund initially authorized by
2024's SB 2627 to be expanded and reformed
this session. Under this measure,
the Public Utility Commission allocated
$5 billion in low-interest loans and
grants to finance construction, maintenance,
modernization, and operation of
power generation facilities. An additional
$5 billion could be approved this year,
but voters would have the final say,
Longanecker says.
TIPRO continues to work with partners
to take advantage of U.S. Department of
Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency programs to identify projects for
grants that benefit small oil and gas operators
in monitoring and mitigating
methane emissions, Longanecker says.
In regulatory matters, after more than
four years of considering a proposed rulemaking
and altering the initial proposal
after industry input, he points out RRC
in December adopted an oil and gas waste
rulemaking. " Any rulemaking is about
compromise, " Longanecker says. " We
didn't get everything that we asked for,
but the rulemaking that was implemented
was far better than the initial draft that
was circulated. "
The back-and-forth process of developing
the rule is an example of how
oil and gas producers and the Railroad
Commission work together, Johnson
says. " The Railroad Commission did a
very good job listening to all the comments
from the industry, and TIPRO
took an active lead and our staff did an
excellent job, " he praises. " That's an
example of the way everything is supposed
to work. "
❒
FEBRUARY 2025 35
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2025

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