www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-16 20:10:00
(The Center Square) – The Texas oil and gas industry is concerned about the uncertainty surrounding energy production and prices despite President Donald Trump’s vow to “drill, baby, drill.”
After Trump advanced his position on tariffs engaging in trade wars with multiple countries, crude oil prices dropped by more than 20% below the $65-$70 per barrel threshold for operators in the Permian Basin to break even.
After the Trump administration announced a tariff exemption on certain items, the U.S. crude benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, slightly increased to $62.96 as of Wednesday. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was at $65.85.
After the Trump administration pushed OPEC countries to increase output, eight OPEC+ countries agreed to phase out their voluntary output cuts and increase production by 411,000 barrels per day by May, prompting oil prices to again drop.
Goldman Sachs also reduced its December 2025 oil forecasts, putting WTI at $58 a barrel and Brent at $62 a barrel, projecting a “stagnating” economy as a result.
As the market and U.S. oil and natural gas industry reeled, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday that the industry has experienced ups and downs before.
“In 2015 and 2016, oil prices twice hit $28 [per barrel], and what happened? What did the U.S. shale industry do in that time? Innovate, get smarter, drive their costs down, and that’s what’s happening right now,” he said. “The industry continues to innovate, continues to get smarter and wiser. Of course, the U.S. shale industry is gonna survive and thrive, but of course investment decisions are going to be tailored if prices stay this low for a long period of time. But I’m quite bullish on the U.S. industry.”
Operators in Texas don’t agree.
Kirk Edwards, president of Odessa-based Latigo Petroleum, said, “The U.S. oil and gas industry is in shock – caught between two extremes.”
“The domestic oil and gas industry is reeling from the whiplash of back-to-back administrations with starkly different energy policies,” he said in an open letter to Wright and Interior Secretary Dough Burgum published on social media. After the Biden administration declared a war on fossil fuels, cancelling leases and expanding regulatory hurdles, “in true form, the industry adapted,” he said. “Despite the headwinds, U.S. producers survived and in many cases, thrived, through ingenuity and grit.”
After Trump was reelected, “the initial mood in the industry was euphoric” because the industry believed the administration was “pro-energy,” he 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 caused oil prices to plummet. “This sharp price decline has thrown U.S. producers into limbo,” he said. Trump’s motto, “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.”
“To say the industry is concerned would be an understatement, shock is a more accurate term. The stakes are high. If we lose talent, technology, and momentum now, we risk undermining years of progress towards true energy security. Hopefully, clearer heads will prevail within the Trump administration. A strong, stable domestic oil and gas sector isn’t just an economic asset, it’s a strategic necessity,” he said.
Trump’s position on tariffs is concerning the industry on many fronts, Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), said. TIPRO represents nearly 3,000 individuals and companies from the Texas oil and gas industry.
“TIPRO and our members have long been concerned with tariffs on aluminum and steel that could add additional cost and slowdown exploration and production activity Texas,” Longanecker told The Center Square. “Our members procure this material from both domestic and international suppliers and maintaining the supply diversity is important to control costs and availability. Steel is also in the 8-10 percent range of operating costs for E&P companies, which can vary, and change based on numerous factors, including supply chain disruptions and policy decisions.”
He cited examples. “Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) on critical items, production casing, come from top tier mills for some of our members, 50% domestic and 50% import and may fluctuate as much as 20% either way year to year depending on supply chain issues or other factors, such as the best product available for the environment the tubes will go into (who has the best product for the well conditions).
“OCTG on less critical strings, surface and intermediate casings, can be more import, sometimes 30% domestic and 70% import and much of that import being South Korea. U.S. steelmaking capacity for OCTG is being allocated mainly to producing the more critical and profitable items, such as production casing, and is the biggest reason for the necessity of more import for surface and intermediate pipes.”
As Longanecker and others have advocated for greater pipeline infrastructure to increase production and reduce emissions, the cost for line pipe and other products will also increase as well as “further downward pressure on crude oil prices,” he added. “Tariffs could also impact demand if it contributes to an economic downturn.”
The industry remains hopeful that the Trump administration will “work through these negotiations in an expedited manner with key trading partners,” he said.
SUMMARY: On July 4, Krista Parker’s 6-year-old son, DJ, nearly drowned at Paragon Casino Resort in Louisiana. Despite DJ’s fear of water, he suddenly went lifeless by the pool. Krista and her husband performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, eventually reviving him as water was expelled from his lungs. DJ was taken to Rapides Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where he recounted a near-death experience of seeing angels and God, strengthening his family’s faith. He now wants to be named Avir, meaning “air” in Hebrew, reflecting his experience. DJ suffered no lasting physical harm, emphasizing the importance of CPR training and water safety.
SUMMARY: The LSU Tigers have landed Lamar Brown, the top 2026 recruit and five-star defensive tackle from Baton Rouge, choosing LSU over Texas A&M, Miami, and Texas. In MLB, the Houston Astros swept the Dodgers in LA but were then swept at home by the Guardians, who had lost 10 straight games. Despite challenges, the Astros emphasize teamwork. College football returns as Houston Cougars aim for a Big 12 bounce-back under coach Willie Fritz, focusing on depth and competition. In tennis, Amanda Eissimova shocked the world by defeating the No. 1 player, Sebalana, to reach her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon after overcoming burnout.
Here’s the latest on sports of interest for the Houston area. LSU signs Lamar Brown. Astros are swept. Cougars under Fritz.
feeds.texastribune.org – By Terri Langford, Dan Keemahill and Hayden Betts – 2025-07-10 17:52:00
Following devastating July 4 flooding in Kerr County that killed nearly 100, officials blamed taxpayer resistance for the lack of flood warning sirens along the Guadalupe River. Despite awareness since 2016 of flood risks and the need for a $1 million warning system, political conservatism and a tight tax base stalled progress. An application for FEMA funding was denied due to the absence of a hazard mitigation plan, and the county’s $10.2 million American Rescue Plan Act funds were largely spent on public safety radio systems, not flood warnings. Local leaders and residents now push to install sirens for future safety.
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In the week after the tragic July 4 flooding in Kerr County, several officials have blamed taxpayer pressure as the reason flood warning sirens were never installed along the Guadalupe River.
“The public reeled at the cost,” Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told reporters one day after the rain pushed Guadalupe River levels more than 32 feet, resulting in nearly 100 deaths in the county, as of Thursday.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly speaks during a press conference at the Hill Country Youth Event Center in Kerrville on Saturday July 5, 2025. Credit: Ronaldo Bolaños/The Texas Tribune
A community that overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, Kerr County constructed an economic engine on the allure of the Guadalupe River. Government leaders acknowledged the need for more disaster mitigation, including a $1 million flood warning system that would better alert the public to emergencies, to sustain that growth, but they were hamstrung by a small and tightfisted tax base.
An examination of transcripts since 2016 from Kerr County’s governing body, the commissioners court, offers a peek into a small Texas county paralyzed by two competing interests: to make one of the country’s most dangerous region for flash flooding safer and to heed to near constant calls from constituents to reduce property taxes and government waste.
“This is a pretty conservative county,” said former Kerr County Judge Tom Pollard, 86. “Politically, of course, and financially as well.”
County zeroes in on river safety in 2016
Cary Burgess, a local meteorologist whose weather reports can be found in the Kerrville Daily Times or heard on Hill Country radio stations, has noticed the construction all along the Guadalupe for the better part of the last decade.
More Texans and out-of-state residents have been discovering the river’s pristine waters lined with bald cypress trees, a long-time draw for camping, hiking and kayaking, and they have been coming in droves to build more homes and businesses along the water’s edge. If any of the newcomers were familiar with the last deadly flood in 1987 that killed 10 evacuating teenagers, they found the river’s threat easy to dismiss.
“They’ve been building up and building up and building up and doing more and more projects along the river that were getting dangerous,” Burgess recalls. “And people are building on this river, my gosh, they don’t even know what this river’s capable of.”
By the time the 1987 flood hit, the county had grown to about 35,000 people. Today, there are about 53,000 people living in Kerr County.
In 2016, Kerr County commissioners already knew they were getting outpaced by neighboring, rapidly growing counties on installing better flood warning systems and were looking for ways to pull ahead.
During a camp evacuation ahead of rising floodwaters, a Seagoville Road Baptist Church bus was swept into the Guadalupe River near the town of Comfort during the July 17, 1987 flood. Forty three people — four adults and 39 teenagers — were washed into the river. Ten teenagers died. Credit: The National Weather Service
During a March 28 meeting that year, they said as much.
“Even though this is probably one of the highest flood-prone regions in the entire state where a lot of people are involved, their systems are state of the art,” Commissioner Tom Moser said then. He discussed how other counties like Comal had moved to sirens and more modern flood warning systems.
“And the current one that we have, it will give – all it does is flashing light,” explained W.B. “Dub” Thomas, the county’s emergency management coordinator. “I mean all – that’s all you get at river crossings or wherever they’re located at.”
Kerr County already had signed on with a company that allowed its residents to opt in and get a CodeRED alert about dangerous weather conditions. But Thomas urged the commissioners court to strive for something more. Cell service along the headwaters of the Guadalupe near Hunt was spotty in the western half of Kerr County, making a redundant system of alerts even more necessary.
“I think we need a system that can be operated or controlled by a centralized location where – whether it’s the Sheriff’s communication personnel, myself or whatever, and it’s just a redundant system that will complement what we currently have,” Thomas said that year.
“The purpose of this project is to provide Kerr County with a flood warning system,” the county wrote in its application. “The System will be utilized for mass notification to citizens about high water levels and flooding conditions throughout Kerr County.”
But the Texas Division of Emergency Management, which oversees billions of FEMA dollars designed to prevent disasters, denied the application because they didn’t have a current hazard mitigation plan. They resubmitted it, news outlets reported, but by then, priority was given to counties that had suffered damage from Hurricane Harvey.
Political skepticism about a windfall
All that concern about warning systems seemed to fade over the next five years, as the political atmosphere throughout the county became more polarized and COVID fatigue frayed local residents’ nerves.
In 2021, Kerr County was awarded a $10.2 million windfall from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which Congress passed that same year to support local governments impacted by the pandemic. Cities and counties were given flexibility to use the money on a variety of expenses, including those related to storm-related infrastructure. Corpus Christi, for example, allocated $15 million of its ARPA funding to “rehabilitate and/or replace aging storm water infrastructure.” Waco’s McLennan County spent $868,000 on low water crossings.
“I’m here to ask this court today to send this money back to the Biden administration, which I consider to be the most criminal treasonous communist government ever to hold the White House,” one resident told commissioners in April 2022, fearing strings were attached to the money.
“We don’t want to be bought by the federal government, thank you very much,” another resident told commissioners. “We’d like the federal government to stay out of Kerr County and their money.”
When it was all said and done, the county approved $7 million in ARPA dollars on a public safety radio communications system for the sheriff’s department and county fire services to meet the community’s needs for the next 10 years, although earlier estimates put that contract at $5 million. Another $1 million went to sheriff’s employees in the form of stipends and raises, and just over $600,000 went towards additional county positions. A new walking path was also created with the ARPA money.
While much has been made of the ARPA spending, it’s not clear if residents or the commissioners understood at the time they could have applied the funds to a warning system. Current Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, and Thomas have declined repeated requests for interviews. Moser, who is no longer a commissioner, did not immediately respond to a Texas Tribune interview request.
Many Kerr County residents, including those who don’t normally follow every cog-turn of government proceedings, have now been poring over the county commissioners meetings this week including Ingram City Council member Raymond Howard. They’ve been digging into ARPA spending and other ways that the county missed opportunities to procure $1 million to implement the warning system commissioners wanted almost 10 years ago, and to prevent the devastating death toll from this week.
A week ago, Howard spent the early morning hours of July 4 knocking on neighbors’ doors to alert them to the flooding after he himself ignored the first two phone alerts on his phone in the middle of the night.
In the week since, the more he’s learned about Kerr County’s county inaction on a flood warning system, the angrier he has become.
“Well, they were obviously thinking about it because they brought it up 20 times since 2016 and never did anything on it,” Howard said, adding that he never thought to ask the city to install sirens previously because he didn’t realize the need for it. “I’m pretty pissed about that.”
Harvey Hilderbran, the former Texas House representative for Kerr County, said what he is watching play out in the community this week is what he’s seen for years in Texas: A disaster hits. There’s a rush to find out who’s accountable. Then outrage pushes officials to shore up deficiencies.
It’s not that Kerr County was dead set against making the area safer, Hilderbran said. Finding a way to pay for it is always where better ideas run aground, especially with a taxbase and leadership as fiscally conservative as Kerr’s.
“Generally everybody’s for doing something until it gets down to the details paying for it,” Hilderbran said. “It’s not like people don’t think about it … I know it’s an issue on their minds and something needs to be done.”
Howard, the 62-year-old Ingram city council member, came to Kerr County years ago to care for an ailing mother. Although he has now been diagnosed with stage four cancer, he said he intends to devote his life to make sure that his small two-mile town north of Kerrville has a warning system and he already knows where he’s going to put it.
“We’re going to get one, put it up on top of the tower behind the volunteer fire department,” he said. “It’s the thing I could do even if it’s the last thing I do …to help secure safety for the future.”
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
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: Center-Right
This article presents a mostly factual and balanced overview of Kerr County’s flood warning system challenges within a politically conservative community. It highlights the county’s strong conservative stance on limited government spending and skepticism toward federal aid, reflecting typical right-leaning priorities such as fiscal conservatism and wariness of federal involvement. The coverage is careful to present multiple perspectives, including official statements and local residents’ concerns, without overt editorializing or ideological framing. The tone and content suggest an objective report focused on local governance dynamics rather than promoting a partisan agenda, though the conservative context is clearly emphasized.
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