On this episode of THE CRUDE TRUTH we visit with Railroad Commissioner of Texas, Jim Wright. We discuss his background in the Environmental Services Industry and how that helped prepare him for his vital role in the Texas Oil and Gas Industry. This is an episode you don’t want to miss, from endangered species to orphan wells and even to the EPA, this is a jam packed episode.

Highlights of the Podcast

03:07 – The railroad commissioner carries a six year term and there’s there’s three of us in total.
06:24 – The paperwork that we require and reporting from the industry
08:37 – Career in the environmental business
09:16 – The oil and gas industry
10:20 – The Bible and they kind of get their own sense
12:05 – Headed east and Austin from our house is north
14:46 – Make sure that we are taking care of Mother Earth
15:38 – Things in the carbon capture market
17:13 – The EPA saying for them to take over
18:22 – The commission and Region six EPA to develop a really good relationship
19:43 – A part of Texas that’s really hurting for industrial type
23:26 – The carbon credit market
27:30 – This new whale called a rice whale
30:29 – The turn of the century when gasoline was discovered
31:28 – The Railroad Commission are more accessible than I think people really know.

Please reach out to Jim Wright on Facebook

Check out StatusJet HERE

THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 58 Jim Wright Railroad Commissioner of Texas

Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 58 Jim Wright Railroad Commissioner of Texas.mp4

Rey Treviño [00:00:00] Remediation bills, endangered species in the Railroad Commission. We visit with Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright on this episode of The Crude.

Narrator [00:00:09] Truth in 1901 at Spindle Top Hill near Beaumont. The future of Texas changed dramatically as like a fountain of fortune. Thousands of barrels of oil burst from the earth towards the sky. Soon, Detroit would be cranking out Model TS by the millions, and America was on the move thanks to the black gold being produced in Texas. Now, more than a century later, the vehicles are different, but nothing else has truly changed. Sure, there may be many other alternative energy sources like wind and solar and electric. But let’s be honest, America depends on oil and entrepreneurs. And if the USA is truly going to be independent, it has to know the crude truth.

Rey Treviño [00:00:53] NAPE is a proud sponsor of the crude truth. Be sure to register for the NAPE Expo 2024 February 7th through the ninth at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Hurry and register today. NAPE where deals happen.

Narrator [00:01:09] This episode is brought to you by LFS chemistry. Committed to being good stewards of the environment and providing the tools so you can be to NAPE Expo where deals happen air compressor solutions when everything is on the line. Air compressor Solutions is the dependable choice to keep commercial business powered up. Sandstone Group Exec Crue. Elevate your network. Elevate your Knowledge. Oil and Gas Workers Association. Pecos Country operating Fueling our future.

Rey Treviño [00:01:41] Well. Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. Whatever time of the day it is that you are listening to or watching this episode of The Crude Truth. Thank you, as always. Well, as we wrap up our year, we are just continuing to fight for the oil and gas industry and more importantly, the economy of the great state of Texas. For my listeners out there that don’t know, the oil and gas industry is over 30% of this state’s economy. But also we help run the United States with the oil and gas that we provide here in Texas. And today, my guest is somebody that is fighting for that every day down at our state capitol here in Austin, Texas. My guest today is Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright. Jim, how are you?

Jim Wright [00:02:30] I’m doing good. Thank you for having me on.

Rey Treviño [00:02:32] Well, thank you very much for coming in. And we’re here at my real new studio, South Lake Studio. And so thank you guys very much for making the trip. I do know y’all came into town for something else, and I just had to jump on the opportunity to get you here.

Jim Wright [00:02:46] To come on a special, special trip, if you recall, who invited me.

Rey Treviño [00:02:49] Well, thank you so much for that. Oh, how are you doing? And fortunately, right now, you’re not gearing up for any type of elections or anything like that. So you are just working. So how’s everything going right now?

Jim Wright [00:03:01] And everything is is is going okay? It’s been very busy for me there. You know, I think it’s important that people know that the railroad commissioner carries a six year term and there’s there’s three of us in total. So we we are on the ballot every two years. So I think Christy, Karadzic’s on the ballot next this November. And, you know, hopefully everybody will be encouraged enough to go and support her. And I think that two years after that, then I’ll be up on the ballot. And and, you know, it’s it seems like time for me. It’s hard to believe I’ve been there almost three years now. It seems like yesterday for me, because it’s just so many things going on and the oil and gas industry and the way we’ve had to kind of manage and and talk about issues that people are concerned with. Since I’ve been here, there been many.

Rey Treviño [00:03:53] Well, you know, you mentioned that you’ve been there for three years. It does seem a lot longer and in a good way as an operator, what you three have been able to do together has really I feel like, you know, and I may exaggerate a little bit, but you’ve taken those three years and really moved us up 30. You know, there’s just so many things that y’all have been doing from keeping Texas cleaner, from the technology side of things, from both computer and oil and gas related drilling that you guys have really just really left a positive mark in the oil and gas industry at the railroad.

Jim Wright [00:04:31] Yeah. I mean, you just said a huge mouthful there. We’ve done a lot of exciting stuff for years. You know, you talked a little bit about our I.T. department, which is some very, very proud of. And the state is we put a lot of money into that program. And it has come a long way, especially in the past three years. And I think you’re going to see vast more improvement to us coming through with IT. We had through the legislative budget that was given to us, this past legislature gave us money to make sure that we’re supporting that and hiring enough people that have the expertise to keep continue to grow that. So it makes it easier, I think, for people who want to know what’s going on in the oil and gas industry or those that are working inside the oil and gas industry to to actually get on the computer. And you can find out pretty much everything you want to know right there, which which creates a great level of transparency, which was something I was passionate about there.

Rey Treviño [00:05:23] Well, you know, I think because of the lack of user friendliness that it used to be and since some of these companies. Are sponsors of the Crude Truth not going to name them. But but there’s been companies, software companies, that were able to make it a lot more user friendly. But just this past Monday, I was at a restaurant in Dallas and talking to a guy about some new wells that we’re drilling, and we were able to use the Railroad Commission, pull it up, distance this, that when something was, you know, the whole nine yards just right there on a laptop like that.

Jim Wright [00:05:57] I don’t know if you remember, Rey, it wasn’t very many years ago if you had to go look up data on a certain information, there literally was stuff in our file room that was still on burlap.

Rey Treviño [00:06:07] Yes.

Jim Wright [00:06:09] So, you know, and I don’t think people in the general public realize how many thousands and thousands and thousands of documents we had not not burlap, all of it, but microfiche and just paperwork that, you know, when you look at the paperwork that we require and reporting from the industry, it takes a lot of manpower and a lot of hours. So I’m proud to say that it started to look at that more like we’re creating programs that will catch things for us and flag things for us so that we’re not having to go through every piece of paper like we used to. So it’s come a long way and it’s continues to grow.

Rey Treviño [00:06:45] No, it’s come a long way. And I mean, again, you I’ve been in the industry since 2011, my dad since the eighties. But I mean, if you need somebody to go into an oil or one of the oil libraries of your guy, you know.

Jim Wright [00:06:56] Or you know, you know what it was.

Rey Treviño [00:06:58] Yeah, yeah,.

Jim Wright [00:06:59] Yeah. You know, and I’m very proud of Christy Craddick. She was the one that started and led that charge. You know, starting back, I think it was over five years ago. She was very instrumental in us getting, you know, enough money to to really help improve the program. And it just continues to improve. So I’m proud of that.

Rey Treviño [00:07:16] Well, you know, Jim, for for those are the those out there that that don’t know you in your background. Can you can you tell us, you know, about you and how you ended up running and winning for a commissioner

Jim Wright [00:07:27] Certainly. You know, I I’ve said this many a time and you can probably Google me and find out exactly what I’m fixing to say again. But, you know, I, I had an opportunity to go to college and unfortunately, my mom and dad were in pretty bad shape about that time. And and I had had three scholarships that I could have gone to college on. And but but I kind of recognize that I really need to stay closer to home and and help them some troubles they were having And and fortunately or maybe unfortunately you have pending my how you look at it there was a the one of the the only two hazardous waste landfills decided to build a quarter mile south of the home that I grew up in. And so growing up there, you know, you would get a pretty much a prevailing south wind. And those were not real pleasant odors back in the seventies. So, you know, when I when I graduated high school, I went down and I asked the manager, I said, I’m not a little kid that, you know, you ass everyday come in to work. And I said, you know, haven’t been real pleasant for me growing up and with you here. And I said, If anybody deserves a job, I do. And I said, You know what? You’re right. So that started my career in the environmental business. And actually I was hired there for over the first four years, five years as contract labor because they just didn’t have a permanent position. So I’d walk, you know, a few months there and then I’d have to go find something else to do and then come back pinol how they built their sales and stuff. You know what? I think it was 86 when I got permanently hired and, and, you know, I it was something that that really interested to be in on in I like the environmental business and it was actually 1991 when I thought you know, I’m a smart enough now probably do this on my own. So I started my first company in 1991 and just been developing there. And, you know, we environmental justice is not impactful on the oil and gas industry. You have refining, you have utility of government. You know, everybody’s got some environmental issues. So, you know, we’ve tried to cater to all of those fields in the in our business. But when the shale was discovered, naturally, there were a lot lot of issues that were coming out of that. And, you know, our people were going to be handling and looking out at the environmental aspects and permits through the through the Railroad Commission, which, you know, I would seem to get a lot of those phone calls going, Hey, we need a permit to do something. Can you help us do that? And so it was it was during legal going to the commission is sitting down and saying, you know, this is the way I understand the permits are usually issued. But you’re telling me now it’s kind of different. Where does it say that? In the rule? Exactly. You know, and I guess they kind of thought I, I was not a real nice guy. So maybe sometimes. But you know what I saw in an on again I’ve said this publicly is, you know, our rules are a little bit like the Bible, right? You know, a lot of people read the Bible and they kind of get their own sense of what they just read. Yes. So so, you know, as as employees come to the commission and they’re handed that, they’re you know, it’s kind of up to earlier and. Reputation on what that says. So, you know, I thought it would be really good to maybe offer to assist in writing guidance documents, at least on some of the rules. I talked to one of the commissioners then and they agreed and I started a little task force that, you know, I’d put together, which was industry and some people from TCQ and my chief of staff today, Christopher Hotchkiss and another engineer, there’s nine people that we had put together and added some well didn’t and we got access to staff. But, you know, staff wasn’t really at that time ready to make any any changes to rules. And just did you just kind of tell they didn’t have time to really communicate with us on guidance documents so. After about, I guess, our third or fourth meeting, the members of the task force looked at me and said, you know, you know, we all have jobs. We’re all very busy. Are we wasting our time here? And. And they said, you know, and and and I said, you know, it kind of seems that way. And, you know, I apologize. I thought we could maybe help, you know, not only the industry side, Texas side and the commission, but yeah, you know, and they said, well, you know, we we really are passionate about this. We think this needs to be done and. Jim, would you consider running for the railroad commissioner spot? That’s coming up. And this was in July of 2019. And I looked at them. I said, no, but like hell no. And it was actually December 6th. I think the deadline for filing was on December 9th. And I had not. My wife and I were going to go somewhere for December 7th, which is our anniversary.

Rey Treviño [00:12:04] Okay.

Jim Wright [00:12:04] And we were headed east and Austin from our house is north. And I told her, I said, Honey, do you mind if we swing through Austin? I want to do something before we go east. She goes, That’s kind of out of our way. What are you doing? So I think, Oh, register to run for railroad Commissioner. She said, Yeah. She said, You know, I always figured you kind of a not jump, but you are not. And she said, But yeah, if you want to do that go ahead. So that’s, that’s how that, that got started. That’s what brought me to the commission. And you know, not being in politics at all, I mean, in my previous life when I got there, I thought things would be really simple. You know, we’re going to write these guidance documents, we’re going to change some rules and, you know, we’re going to we’re going to get these rules up to where technology is today and and adapt to to the way things that are really being done. And the first thing that hits me is is flaring.

Rey Treviño [00:13:00] Yes.

Jim Wright [00:13:01] You know.

Rey Treviño [00:13:02] Yeah.

Jim Wright [00:13:02] So, you know, it was blaring and then it was seismic activity. You know, just it just seems like it just keeps going and going. And so all those issues, you know, have to be addressed. And they’re you know, they’re important to me. Yes. And, you know, so so there’s been a lot of stuff that we’ve done in each one of those areas. But but my forte has always been environmental, to answer your question.

Rey Treviño [00:13:22] And yes.

Jim Wright [00:13:23] That’s that’s what I do.

Rey Treviño [00:13:24] Well, you know, I want to do my best because, you know, we had a lovely pre-meeting kind of talk about some talking points and I want to do my best. And we can tie every single one of them into what your background is that again, it’s not in politics. It’s not you know, it’s it’s not even it’s in oil and gas, but it’s not it’s you’re looking out for Mother Earth as far as I’m concerned. And that’s what I think blesses me with oil all day long.

Jim Wright [00:13:52] I think one of the things that’s made me successful probably in my private life is it’s not just looking out for Mother Earth, but it’s how is you’re looking out for Mother Earth and continuing expanding and improving our economic growth. And I feel like I’ve been really good at making both of those at least be side by side.

Rey Treviño [00:14:09] Yes.

Jim Wright [00:14:10] You know, where you see today, a lot of that stuff that people are impressed upon is it’s almost unachievable, you know, So you have to it this is a tough job. When I came here, I recognized three things that that I really needed to consider on every decision that I make safety, environmental and the economic viability of the industries we regulate. So, you know, when you when you think about everything that we do, those are the three, three thought processes that I put into that. So, you know, when you looking at trying to to level that playing field to make sure that we are taking care of Mother Earth, but we’re also achieving that economic success, those those get complicated and ends. And a lot of people don’t try to understand that, but they don’t realize without that economic success we have, we’d be in a lot worse shape than we would if we had some of the things that are concerning them on the environmental side.

Rey Treviño [00:15:07] Yeah, you know, with everything on the environmental side, let’s you know, you mentioned flaring was the first issue that you had, but carbon capture is is a hot button right now. And you know, what are you guys doing to help out with the carbon capture and either. Because it is hard for US operators. But what are you all doing on yours?

Jim Wright [00:15:31] Well, you know, we have you know, we’ve looked at a lot of the regulations that have been handed down from the federal side of things in the carbon capture market. And one of those is we have to apply for primacy to actually issue permits to to have someone go out and capture and sequester carbon. So that’s been our that’s been a huge process for us is very complicated document to to work with the EPA on and in fact I’ve been holding meetings with them pretty much on a monthly basis for the past year about getting our promises and in making that and you know, if anybody’s an expert in injecting and securely injecting and sequestering something, it’s Texas. We know that probably better than anybody else in the world. So, you know, I think there’s there’s been some give and take with the EPA. You know, the EPA is certainly I don’t consider them as much of an expert as we do here in Texas so that, you know, they learn something from us and we’ve learned some things from them. And it’s been kind of a give and take. But it’s it’s actually been a decent relationship that I didn’t think would be decent at first. But but it has turned out to be and I’m really confident that we will get that primacy and once that’s done, then I think there’ll be advantages because there are some some money that’s available to encourage that. And that’s that’s what the intent was. And I think it will help our industry tremendously.

Rey Treviño [00:16:55] You know, I’m glad you brought up the EPA. This one wanted to kind of just since you mentioned it, and I’m glad to hear that we have a good relationship, you know. Not too long ago, we had it, and I’ll be a little direct to Democrat Texas congressman, send letters to the EPA saying for them to take over. Well regulating the oil and gas industry in Texas, if I’m correct. And I just think that that was probably one of the most hogwash. Lack of better word things ever. When you know, you mentioned that we you know, we lead it. You know, other countries come here to see how it is that we are safe, we regulate it, we protect the environment. You know, they come and take notes from what we do here. So, you know, I was a little worried about that. Just, you know, outside, as I like to say, I’m not a politician. I’m on the outside watching TV.

Jim Wright [00:17:51] Well, you know, those letters were developed from people that really don’t know all the aspects of what these natural resources that we’re blessed with here in Texas really provide for Texas. You know, I think a lot of people sometimes jump on different bandwagons because they feel like that’s that’s kind of the the consensus, you know, that everybody’s thinking and maybe that’s more for their own personal gain. I think sometimes So, you know, and I think that, again, I felt like it would be important for the commission and Region six EPA to develop a really good relationship. And one of the things that seems to be forefront on their mind was that we figured out a way to inform the public of what that program’s going to look like and how’s it going to affect them and working hand in hand with us to do that. So that’s that’s been that’s been kind of the the major thing that they their concerns have been on is I think, you know, in talking with the EPA, they recognize we we do know how to put stuff back into the ground. You know, we if you look at our produced water that comes alongside oil and gas today. just just in the Permian alone, we’re almost at 20 million barrels a day that we’ve got to put back into the ground. You know, that’s that’s not easy to do when you’re looking at that volume. And that that I’m going to call it that smallest base, not really that small, but,.

Rey Treviño [00:19:11] Yeah,.

Jim Wright [00:19:12] You know, that is a lot of water. And there’s issues that come with that, too. You know, they’re issues that we’ve been addressing we’re continuing to address. And, you know, I’m excited to say that we’ve created some pilot programs with some of the industry now that’s looking at alternative uses. We’re already using a lot of that water to refract with. We’ve got pilot programs now that are developed to go out and provide irrigation to enhance natural vegetation. I mean, there’s a lot of exciting stuff. You know, I had a company approach me the other day that says, Look, we’ve got a part of Texas that’s really hurting for industrial type water right now. We think we could treat that to an industrial level and utilize it in that community to benefit them. So I think there’s a lot of exciting stuff coming up, but that that, you know when you talk about. What those letters said that were not responsible.Yeah. They couldn’t. They couldn’t miss the mark. Mark further. You know, it is just things like I had to learn when I came here. They don’t happen overnight. They’re complex. And it takes it takes a lot of thought process and, you know, a lot of a lot of work and a lot of technology to make these things work correctly.

Rey Treviño [00:20:18] Yeah. You know, you talk about complex and a lot of thought process. One thing I do know is complex here is the orphan wells or the Abandoned Wells Center here in Texas. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, you know, operators who are responsible for those, whether they’re good, bad or indifferent, they just walk away from the fields and they leave. He leave those there. And they I think that is a very difficult situation. So for you guys to be in. But you all are doing a great job on taking care of it for for what we care. We do have a lot of wells here. And, you know, you guys are plugging over a thousand wells a year and, you know, is there anything else that you would like to see us do? Maybe I’ll throw a curveball as an operator other than not walk away from them. But it’s like, you know, how can we help you guys out to, you know, mitigate those orphan wells in a way?

Jim Wright [00:21:20] You know? Ray, One one of the things I consider a company like yours in one thing that’s a strong passion of mine is is the smaller guy, right It to me that’s a smaller guy that that are go to the local community. You know, you eat at those restaurants, you stay at those hotels. He buys from those hardware stores, he hires those local people. So to me, they drive our economy a lot better than I look at, you know, larger producers, actually. But those guys inherit in and they get into the business from the larger guys. And there’s a thing on a live called livable well which which is always measured on what we refer to as economic life, right?

Rey Treviño [00:22:00] Yes, sir.

Jim Wright [00:22:01] So if your big, big corporation, you got lots of employees, what’s the economic life of a. Well, it’s not the same as your economic life of the well being a smaller producer. So, you know, typically what happens to encourage people, smaller people that that really have the biggest impact on our economy to stay in the business. A lot of people say, well, you need to increase the bond, you know, make make bigger bonds. Well, not just throw the little guy out when I do that.

Rey Treviño [00:22:26] Yeah, please. I’ll do that. Yeah.

Jim Wright [00:22:28] You know, so so, you know, I think when you look at what really happens, the larger corporations say, okay, we’re down to I’m just going to use a number 15 in my BTU a day of natural gas or 50 MBT of whatever the number is.

Rey Treviño [00:22:44] Yeah.

Jim Wright [00:22:44] And that that will is no longer economically successful for us. You come along as I panic 50 meters a day. I could make money with that. Well you buy that well and maybe your thresholds ten. Okay. And but there’s always somebody out there that’s going to impact the local community that that can feel like they can take that well and do something with it. But there’s always there always is a real economic into that. Well, and that’s what we’re seeing happening. It happen in the industry today, you know, but I think giving the concerns and greenhouse gas emissions, we’ve got a kind of new breath of life here to address these wells other than using taxpayer funds on the ones I get walked away from.

Rey Treviño [00:23:26] Yeah.

Jim Wright [00:23:26] In the carbon credit market. And I’m really excited about that. And yeah, it’s been something we’ve looked at really hard the past year and a half and we’re doing a lot of research and trying to see how we can utilize that carbon credit market and encourage that carbon credit market too, to get a return on some of that. So we can stretch that, either stretch those dollars out or get it in such a way that that final guy, yeah, that has no more economic life knows he can fall back and look at carbon credits to actually plug the well. So so there’s a lot of exciting stuff happening in that arena right now.

Rey Treviño [00:23:58] There really is. And the other thing in that arena, not necessarily carbon capture, but a was a bill that didn’t make it, but it was a

Jim Wright [00:24:09] Restimulate

Rey Treviño [00:24:10] Restimulate we send Bill. And that you could go back into these old wells every restimulated and you get some form of a tax credit. It didn’t make it. But I just wanted to mention it real quick because we got about another 18 months before the next deal. So if any of my listeners out there that are operators have any questions about that, reach out to me or, you know, the Railroad Commission, because you talk about the little cities in the now something we did talk about previously was that, you know, they are you know, they get the benefits of all these older wells. When we come in, we see it. The hotels eat at the restaurants, you know, buy their gasoline and, you know, just one well, right now, one one shallow well, you know, $1,000,000. And the majority of that, if you use the local driller, the the local gasoline diesel guy, you know, the local mud guy, that all goes into that, that.

Jim Wright [00:25:02] Yeah, I see that. And that’s that’s my passion, you know that That’s what I want to keep in the oil and gas industry especially. You know it to me it’s it’s those type of things that make us successful in Texas. You know, the bigger guys, the you know, they’re needed. I love them coming to Texas, you know, but they they buy and they buy in gross amounts. So, you know, they may be buying from a foreign country on supplies that they need were a smaller guy’s going to go to the Ace Hardware and he’s going to buy buy what he needs. But, you know, when you when you look at the carbon credit opportunity, like I said earlier, I think that’s going to be a really good way of maybe us looking at potentially abolishing that that inheritance of orphan wells for taxpayer responsibility. So I think there’s a lot of promise and.

Rey Treviño [00:25:51] That could be very, very unique. You know, one of the thing I wanted to talk about was, you know, the bigger guys in I want to lead into it. You know, the bigger guys just there’s an environmental issue. They can go higher six mile just tomorrow. They can afford to wait six months to start drilling again and improve why it’s okay to drill six months later. However, the small guys like us, you know, if there’s something going on environmentally or right now, which I’ll lead into endangered species, we’re done. It’s like, go find a new spot to drill. We’re not doing that. And so you’ve got a lizard in West Texas and also the rice discovery that.

Jim Wright [00:26:28] Yeah, you know, I think it’s really funny because evidently the only endangered species in this whole entire world happen to live around just oil and gas operations.

Rey Treviño [00:26:37] I never thought about it.

Jim Wright [00:26:39] I mean, that’s that’s what I’m seeing today.

Rey Treviño [00:26:41] Yeah.

Jim Wright [00:26:42] You know, you know. Yeah, just brought it up. You know, we’ve got a prairie chicken and we got a lizard that’s out in West Texas right now that to be honest with you, where our activities are, that’s that’s one of the things we always look for, is you don’t, you don’t really want to go headfirst into saying, okay, I’m going to put all my operations where there’s an endangered species. So I don’t think that’s something that entices us anywhere.

Rey Treviño [00:27:04] No.

Jim Wright [00:27:05] So, you know, when when I heard a report the other day where they said, you know, we went out and we tried to find the lizard where the oil and gas industry is and we couldn’t find one lizard. Well, yeah, because we shall drill with a lizard is kind of the same with a bird. Check chicken and then then the latest. I think these are assaults, to be honest with you. And look at. That’s just my opinion. You know, the the latest thing is this. This new whale called a rice whale.

Rey Treviño [00:27:32] Okay.

Jim Wright [00:27:32] That was just found and immediately got put on the endangered species list and just dramatically enough, you know, or more specifically enough, its habitat is from Florida through the Gulf Coast down to Brownsville, about 30 miles offshore. That’s its habitat. So now the concern is, is our exports that we’re having, you know, may actually hit one of these well somehow or the propeller may and are dangerous. So they’re they’re looking at their movements that they think their movements are. And they were they’re looking at restricting us and shipping while exporting material out of the country.

Rey Treviño [00:28:17] Jim, I thought you said during our prepared I thought you were seeing rice. Well, w e l l But it’s a whale. Whale, Yes.

Jim Wright [00:28:26] Correct.

Rey Treviño [00:28:27] And they are i that opens up a whole other camp for a whole other topic on another day that they worried about a whale on the Gulf Coast that just happens to stretch the entire.

Jim Wright [00:28:39] Yes

Rey Treviño [00:28:39] Gulf of Mexico per year where what’s rich in that area is?

Jim Wright [00:28:44] Yeah, and from what I’ve seen from reports now saying that this Whales movement is particularly more at night. So, you know, they’re already talking about ships can travel at night through that zone. You know, so I you know, I, I look at this all the time and I think who’s promoting all this stuff and why are they promoting it? Because everything that you’re doing. To us here domestically is really just kind of shutting us down. And. and you’re you’re you’re improving foreign rather foreign adversaries or call them or enemies. There’s improvement in their economy. And I don’t understand that. And then, like I told you earlier, I’m not really a politician, but I scratch my head a lot on on some of the decisions that people are making today.

Rey Treviño [00:29:33] Well, you mentioned, you know, adversaries and this is totally off subject. I love to go fishing. I love the Texas coast. I heard reports that the king fishing was not very good this year and that there is a Russian. Ned, there’s something I heard off the coast of Cuba that pert near stretches three miles between two ships. It’s just catching fish all day long. I heard that. So you talk about, you know, adversaries doing stuff. You know, just I can’t agree more with what you’re saying.

Jim Wright [00:30:09] It was Greenpeace and those guys that got the boats. You know, I would think they would be out there on top of that one.

Rey Treviño [00:30:15] Well, you talk about was Greenpeace, where they you know. My good friend David Blackmon, you know, he’s been writing about the whales and, you know, where are they at, you know. And, you know, he said it to Stu Turley that, you know, oil, you know, gasoline saved the whales at the turn of the century when gasoline was discovered.

Jim Wright [00:30:32] It certainly.

Rey Treviño [00:30:32] Did. Okay. So it’s all going to be gasoline and oil that saves them again when we can stop building these wind farms out in the ocean.

Jim Wright [00:30:40] That’s right.

Rey Treviño [00:30:41] So.

Jim Wright [00:30:42] You know, I think you’ve seen a lot of studies in that regard to an end in the environmental impacts that that’s going to be having on us. And you know, that that’s a whole different subject that I guess I could talk about for hours. But, you know, I think people need to really, really look at what’s what’s actually going on today. And, you know, if it’s concerning, you know, I guess the biggest thing that I could say is learn all you can about it and then form your opinion. You know, don’t don’t pick somebody you think you can follow. That’s right. Check them.

Rey Treviño [00:31:16] Yeah, but I like that right there. You know, if a subject concerns, you learn all you can. And that’s. That’s the crude truth. There it is. That’s. That’s. There it is. That’s the crude truth. Jim, you know, you guys at the Railroad Commission are more accessible than I think people really know. More listeners for, you know, viewers that are watching you. How can we get a hold of your office or the railroad commission office?

Jim Wright [00:31:40] So if you have a cell phone.

Rey Treviño [00:31:42] Yeah.

Jim Wright [00:31:43] And you have Google on it, just type in my name. It’ll tell you about 6 million times before you can get off of Google. How to get a hold of me there. Okay.

Rey Treviño [00:31:54] Oh, man. Well, Jim, again, I just cannot thank you enough for coming on. I know you’re slammed. You’re in for the Texas Alliance of Investigators. You’re speaking there tomorrow with Congressman Chip Roy, if I’m correct.

Jim Wright [00:32:06] Well, I think I’m not real sure that is still occurring or not, because I’m a little upset. We just had yesterday

Rey Treviño [00:32:12] I heard A rumor about something that happened. And, you know, thet they were recorded. It happened after some stuff that happened.

Jim Wright [00:32:18] So so they want me to extend my speech tomorrow. I’m not real sure what the.

Rey Treviño [00:32:22] Well You better charge them extra then, because I can’t thank you enough for coming on.

Jim Wright [00:32:27] Thank you guys for having me.

Rey Treviño [00:32:28] And again, I just want to highlight that you three have done so many great things. And, you know, with you having the environmental background, you know. We care. You know, I’ve said this before. I’m an Eagle Scout. I will. I called it Mother Earth. It gives us the oil in, I don’t know, conservative. In most oil and gas men and women operate. And so we care about the environment. And you coming from an environmental background, it’s it’s your duty.

Jim Wright [00:32:54] You know, I’m very I’m very proud and lucky to have the fellow commissioners that I have. I think we have made a great team and and I could talk to anybody else that I would rather be working with than than I have today. And I want to just say thank you so much for letting me come on. The more we talk about these issues, I think those are important for the people to realize what’s really going on in our in our world today.

Rey Treviño [00:33:15] Well, Jim, again, thank you so much for coming on. And thank you again to all my listeners out there, please. And please leave five star reviews and ask any questions you want. And if there are any that you want to ask me, I’ll ask Jim and his great counterparts over here. So thank you all again, and we’ll see you next time on another episode of The Crude Truth.

Narrator [00:33:35] Again, thank you to our sponsors, LFS Chemistry, NAPE, XPO Air Compressor Solutions, Exac Crue, Oil and Gas Workers Association, Pecos Country Operating.

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