www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-22 09:28:00
(The Center Square) – A key pledge of President Donald Trump’s energy policy is to “unleash American energy,” make the U.S. energy industry dominant, and “drill, baby, drill.”
His Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, the former CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, also vowed that Trump’s energy policies would create a “golden age” for the U.S. oil and natural gas industry.
Within the first few months of Trump’s new administration, the opposite has been true, with layoffs increasing, rig counts dropping, and industry executives expressing alarm.
After Trump was reelected, “the initial mood in the industry was euphoric” because the industry believed the administration was “pro-energy,” Odessa-based Latigo Petroleum president Kirk Edwards said. “But within the first few months, a different set of challenges emerged. Tariffs have driven up the cost of drilling, squeezing margins just as operators look to expand.”
The Trump administration pushing OPEC to increase production in an already oversupplied global market contributed to oil prices plummeting. “This sharp price decline has thrown U.S. producers into limbo,” Edwards said. Trump’s mantra, “Drill, baby, drill,” turned into “wait, baby, wait,” he said. As a result, the industry isn’t adding rigs to drill when “price signals are so unclear,” The Center Square reported.
The rig count has dropped under the Trump administration, with the biggest losses reported in Texas, the oil and natural gas capital of the U.S. As of March 28, there were 290 rigs in Texas, down from 376 in March 2024, according to newly released Baker Hughes data.
“The U.S. shale industry faces significant challenges as production issues and economic pressures rise,” Linhua Guan, CEO of Houston-based Surge Energy, said in a social media post. He also published the results of a poll showing that the majority surveyed believed the U.S. crude oil production would plateau this decade.
Pioneer Natural Resources Founder Scott Sheffield warned that Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” mantra “might not happen.” Sheffield set a grim picture for the industry in Houston, saying “You’ve really got to hunker down. You may have to lay off some people. You’ve got to focus on your best prospects. We’ll see what happens over the next two or three years,” Bloomberg News reported.
Since then, oil prices keep dropping. The West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude, was at $63.92 a barrel on Tuesday, below the $65 threshold companies need to break even. That’s down from the $80 a barrel the WTI was posting in early January.
The Texas oil and natural gas industry in the last two years reported record production and for many months was adding jobs and leading the U.S. in job creation, The Center Square reported. In March, it reported a loss of 700 jobs in the upstream sector – the sector that drills primarily in the oil rich Permian Basin, The Center Square reported.
Also last month, BP announced it was shedding 7,700 jobs globally and shifting roughly 1,100 U.S. based jobs to Hungary, India and Malaysia, Pipeline & Gas Journal reported. BP currently employs roughly 4,000 people in Houston, the oil and natural gas capital of Texas and the U.S. where BP’s U.S. headquarters is located.
In February, Chevron announced it was laying off up to 20% of its global workforce by the end of 2026. In January, Houston-based APA, the parent company of Apache Corporation, announced it was laying off nearly 300 employees globally; by February, it had reduced its corporate office by one-third, The Houston Chronicle reported. More layoffs are expected in Texas, industry executives have told The Center Square.
Uncertainty in the industry continued after Liberty Energy published its first quarterly earnings report showing a profit of $165 million, the lowest since the first quarter of 2022. “Net income (after taxes) totaled $20 million for the first quarter of 2025 compared to $82 million in the first quarter of 2024 and $52 million in the fourth quarter of 2024,” it said.
Its new CEO Ron Guzek said, “In recent months, tariff announcements and a more aggressive OPEC+ production strategy have sent ripples across the energy sector.” He told investors and media on a call, “As we look forward, of course, there are some storm clouds on the horizon. We don’t know if that storm is going to roll in here or not.”
“As global oil markets contend with tariff impacts, geopolitical tensions, and oil supply concerns, North American producers are evaluating a range of macroeconomic scenarios,” the company’s outlook states. “The recent pause on tariffs has momentarily eased pressure on the global economy, and in turn, global oil demand concerns. However, markets remain focused on supply side dynamics, including the evolving OPEC+ production strategy and potential constraints on Iranian, Russian, and Venezuelan oil exports.”
Since Trump’s been in office, Liberty’s stock has plummeted by 40%.
U.S. oil and gas executives are overall expressing pessimism, according to a Dallas Fed survey. The company outlook index decreased by 12 points; the outlook uncertainty index increased by 21 points.
SUMMARY: The Trump administration has challenged asylum rights and birthright citizenship, leading to changes in U.S. border policies. Advocacy groups have criticized these shifts, which have limited asylum claims and worsened conditions for migrants. Asylum seekers were restricted to ports of entry with appointments, and many were turned back or detained. A report highlighted the risks faced by migrants who stayed in Mexico or returned to dangerous conditions. Faith-based and secular groups, including the ACLU, are fighting to restore asylum rights, with some advocating for a broader international response to the crisis.
www.kxan.com – Christopher Adams – 2025-05-15 07:00:00
SUMMARY: Suburban communities in Texas are experiencing rapid growth, with Fulshear, Celina, and Leander ranking among the top five fastest-growing U.S. cities with populations over 50,000. Fulshear grew by 27%, Celina by 18.2%, and Leander by 8.7% between July 2023 and July 2024. Smaller cities like Princeton and Jarrell also saw significant growth. Texas added 562,941 new residents, making it the second-most populous state. Houston, San Antonio, and Fort Worth had the largest population increases. Meanwhile, Richardson, Lakeway, and Wichita Falls experienced declines. Five Texas cities rank among the top 15 largest nationwide.
Corpus Christi, Texas, is facing a severe water crisis despite being a coastal hub. Drought restrictions have led to wilting plants and limited water use, while industries, including new facilities like Tesla’s lithium refinery, continue using significant amounts of water without restrictions. The city’s water supply is already strained, with industrial use consuming over half of the available water. Residents are concerned that plans for desalination plants and new water contracts for industries will exacerbate the situation, leaving communities to bear the burden of insufficient water resources. Environmental advocates warn that industrial growth may harm both residents and the local ecosystem.
Corpus Christi is a town built around water. But while the Gulf of Mexico has made the region what it is today, seawater can’t save Corpus from a rapidly growing water crisis.
As the Gulf shines on the horizon, water for the town’s residents is nowhere to be found. Wilting plants, timed showers, and unwashed cars have become a staple as drought restrictions continue. Industries, on the other hand, face no limits on water use, and a resource-intensive expansion of new projects in the region, including Tesla’s new lithium refinery, is expected to add much more demand for an already strained supply.
A Texas city the size of Corpus Christi, with a population of about 315,000, generally uses around 38 percent of its water supply for industrial, commercial or institutional use, according to the Texas Water Development Board. In Corpus, a coastal hub for heavy industry, that rate is at least 58 percent, according to Corpus Christi Water, the city’s municipal water utility.
“The City of Corpus Christi keeps telling us that we need to save water, but they don’t do anything to implement that on the industries,” said Myra Alaniz, a member of the environmental justice group Chispa Texas and resident of Robstown, just outside of Corpus. “We’re having to take the burden of the drought while industries, who make profit from it, go on their merry way.”
Drought restrictions have been in place since the summer of 2022 and have only grown more strict. Now, Corpus Christi Water, the city’s water agency, is preparing to implement brand-new Stage 4 drought restrictions, which would make it mandatory to comply with the currently voluntary recommendations to limit car washing and lawn watering.
“It’s called Stage 4, but the future recommendation from my office will be to call it an emergency,” Esteban Ramos, water resource manager at Corpus Christi Water (CCW), told the Texas Observer in March. “We’re at the end of the rope, and there isn’t rainfall on the horizon. … Calling it an emergency prepares our community and communities around us” for the next steps that could be coming.
Yet, while residents are pushed to cut back on use, large industrial facilities in the vicinity of the Nueces Bay are still using the majority of the water under CCW’s jurisdiction—without restrictions—such as the energy company Avina’s new high-tech plant to process ammonia and hydrogen into alternative fuels and export it abroad. Last April, Avina purchased rights to 5.5 million gallons of water per day for the next 25 years—the last remaining supply from the Nueces River.
It’s not just Corpus Christi. Fifteen minutes west, near Robstown, Texas-based electric car manufacturer Tesla’s new lithium refinery has also drawn concerns about the local water supply.
Under the direction of Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO, Texas transplant and key ally to President Donald Trump, Tesla announced its plans to build the $1-billion, 1,200-acre facility—a key part of its domestic manufacturing supply chain—back in 2023 and began production in December 2024.
Tesla estimated that the plant would use around 1 million gallons of water per day by October of this year but could eventually use as much as 8 million gallons per day, according to February 2024 meeting minutes from the South Texas Water Authority, which purchases its water from Corpus Christi. If you filled plastic water bottles with those 8 million gallons every day and lined them up end-to-end, you could circle the equator nearly nine times in a month.
It’s not yet clear how Tesla will source its water supply for the refinery, and both the company and local officials have provided few details. Tesla did not respond to the Observer’s requests for comment about its water supply plans. Tesla reportedly began refinery operations without an official water contract, according to a recent report by KRIS 6 News.
The prospect of Tesla becoming yet another thirsty industrial water consumer has locals worried about the future.
“It’s always on the back of our mind that we have to conserve [water], so we try to wash dishes quickly or take a bath quickly, but then in the back of our minds we’re also thinking, why are we doing this?” said Alaniz, the Robstown resident and activist, who’s been closely tracking local water supply and regulation issues ever since Avina announced plans for its facility. “What we conserve is literally a drop in the bucket to what needs to be done, which industry is not contributing to.”
Environmental advocates are alarmed, but not surprised, that big industries are able to pursue their seemingly unquenchable thirst for water in Texas without resistance. “I’d like to be surprised these days that they’d be proposing facilities that could take that much water from us,” said Jake Hernandez, a lead organizer in the Corpus office of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, a nonprofit focused on industrial pollution. “The sad truth is, it’s a pattern … so it doesn’t surprise me that much. The simple fact of the matter is, we don’t have that.”
Nueces County Water Control and Improvement District #3, which controls Robstown’s water distribution, did not respond to requests for comment. The South Texas Water Authority, which oversees a number of water suppliers in the region, also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Some attempts are being made to get additional water supply for the region, such as the expansion of the Mary Rhodes Pipeline, which supplies the Corpus Christi and Robstown areas with water from Lake Texarkana and the Colorado River. However, many residents fear it’s not enough, and they may well be right.
If the pipeline were to operate at maximum capacity once the expansion is completed as expected later this month, Lake Corpus Christi would run out of water for municipal use by June 2026, according to estimates obtained through a public information request. Water levels in the lake are currently at one of the lowest since the reservoir was created in 1958 and are on track to reach their lowest ever in the coming months, according to the estimates and data from the Texas Water Development Board.
If the pipeline were to fail for any reason, the lake would run out by October—just over half a year from now, according to the water level forecast. Meanwhile, industrial water use is classified as essential, which means plants and refineries are largely exempt from local water conservation mandates.
While the City of Corpus Christi doesn’t sell water to Tesla, Ramos, the Corpus Christi water manger, acknowledged that the impacts of industrial water use nearby can harm others in the area. Still, he said that Corpus Christi Water is being intentional with its decision-making and denied claims that the entity has overcommitted its water supply.
“We have not over-allocated [or] oversold our water,” Ramos said. “We look at everybody that’s coming in, and we evaluate our supply and whether or not to get into any additional contracts.”
The Corpus Christi area isn’t alone in its water problems. Water crises are plaguing regions all across Texas and have become a growing political concern. In his State of the State address in February, Governor Greg Abbott declared water policy an emergency item this legislative session, calling for what he said will be the largest one-time water investment in the state’s history.
Senator Charles Perry, a Republican from Lubbock, has taken the lead on the issue with a package of water legislation, including the centerpiece Senate Bill 7. That bill would establish protocols for the Texas Water Fund to finance infrastructure development like pipelines or reservoirs and expand the power of the Texas Water Development Board, the state’s leading water agency. The Texas Water Fund was approved by voters in 2023 to fund the investments proposed under SB 7.
“Every day, there’s a news story of some community development stopped or not able to go forward because their water supply system doesn’t support the current growth,” Perry said when presenting SB 7 to the Senate on April 2. “The one thing that is lacking to get the [Texas Water Plan] to where it needs to be today is funding.”
The roughly $1 billion-a-year bill passed unanimously in the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House.
But organizers around Corpus say the bill isn’t addressing the right problems—and instead will invest large sums of money into purported solutions like industrial desalination plants, which convert saltwater into freshwater, in places like Corpus Christi, where such projects are already in the works. While it will take years to build those desalination plants, local authorities are already taking water “reservations” from industrial operators in the area.
Chispa Texas program director Elida Castillo worries that SB 7 focuses on funding investments in desalination and other harmful water sourcing methods instead of prioritizing the conservation of pre-existing water sources.
“[The Legislature is] going to be spending billions of dollars for new water supplies, and they’re not doing anything to protect our existing water supplies,” said Castillo, who is also a city council member in the small town of Taft near Corpus. “[SB 7] is only going to lead to funding for desalination, which impacts communities like mine. … If you look at who’s supporting this proposition, it’s the oil and gas industry and the desalination associations.”
Castillo also said that the contracts between water suppliers and industrial customers like Avina benefit those big companies far more than the average residential user, with companies sometimes paying just over half what residents pay per gallon because of the industries’ bulk purchases. When CCW took steps to bridge the cost gap last year, industrial customers filed a complaint with the Texas Public Utility Commission, sparking a legal battle that was settled privately, according to Commission filings.
Castillo said that proposed water contracts from the desalination plant include a small surcharge companies have agreed to pay in an attempt to offset the cost imposed on residents for the plant’s operation but that it won’t be enough to mitigate the cost from overselling.
“Just in the Corpus area, you have Robstown Water District Number Three, South Texas Water Authority, the Nueces River Authority, the City of Corpus Christi, and they’re all drawing water from the same sources, but they’re all signing their own contracts for water with these different industries,” Castillo said.
She warns that water policies that focus on supplying the expansion of new industrial development without any type of conservation regulations will devastate the Corpus bay’s ecosystem and leave ordinary residents facing the brunt of the impacts.
“We have to accept that Texas’ economic prosperity comes at an expense, and that price tag is way too high,” Castillo said. “Every part of the state has some sort of issue with either no water or excessive pollution, things of that nature. [We have to] look at the situation and take those measures to mitigate the risks and harms to our community and accept that the Texas miracle isn’t a real thing [for everyone].”
While Tesla has yet not disclosed a contract for its refinery water supply, those in the Corpus area are worried it’s only a matter of time. Residents and activists feel like a lack of water hasn’t stopped local or state leaders before, and they worry it may not now.
“This is continuing this culture of sacrificing communities to expand the economy,” Hernandez said. “We cannot allow any more of our communities to become sacrifice zones for people who do not live here.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning
This content emphasizes environmental justice, critiques industrial water use, and highlights the impacts of corporate projects on local communities, which aligns with concerns often raised on the left side of the political spectrum. It challenges the decisions of local and state authorities, with a focus on grassroots activists and community members affected by water shortages. Although it acknowledges legislative efforts led by Republican officials, the overall tone is critical of industrial interests and state policies that prioritize economic growth over environmental conservation and equitable resource distribution, indicating a left-leaning perspective.
