Please reach out to Lori Blong on LinkedIn

Please reach out to Cal Hendrick on LinkedIn

Please reach out to Brian Stubbs on LinkedIn

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Midland and Odessa: The Collaboration between the Two Mayors

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

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:00:00] Two of the most powerful people in Texas are on this episode of The Crude Truth.

Narrator [00:00:05] In 1901, at Spindletop 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 T’s 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

Narrator [00:00:48] This episode is brought to you by LFS Chemistry. We are committed to being good stewards of the environment. We are providing the tools so you can be too. Nape Expo, where deals happen. Air Compressor Solutions. When everything is on the line, Air Compressed Solutions is the dependable choice to keep commercial business powered up. Sandstone Group, Exec Crue. Elevate your network, elevate your knowledge. Texas Star Alliance, Pecos Country Operating, fueling our future.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:01:23] Oh my gosh. The Permian Basin International Oil Show is just the place to be. We have had congressmen, we’ve had railroad commissioners. We’ve got also two of the most powerful people in Texas that are here. Real quick shout out to Air Compressor Solutions for hosting the Crude Truth this year. And also thank you to LFS Chemistry and Pecos Country Operating for presenting this episode as well. In my teaser, I talked about two of most powerful people. Uh, and I’ve also got a president of air compressor solutions, Brian Stubbs on this episode, but these two people, um, they live and breathe West Texas. They know what’s going on. They have the pulse. I’ve got on the mayor of Midland, Lori Blong, and the mayor of Odessa, Cal Hendrick on this. I see no rivalry here. You two are great. We, again, uh, it’s just been so much fun. Um, you know, I, and I’m not even going to, well, I’m going to say it. I was like, yeah, y’all’s driver is just as fun as the Dallas Fort Worth one. And y’ all nearly stomped my head off there. Like, wait a minute here. And, um, I just cannot thank you guys enough for doing this. Um, mayor Lori, uh, how’s everything going in Midland right now?

Lori Blong [00:02:34] Midland is thriving. We have a lot of good things going on, a lot of just investment back into our community and infrastructure and other the largest Costco in Texas. We’re excited about that. So a lot of great things happening and glad to be here with you guys today.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:02:48] Well, you know, you’ve been running it like shipshape for the last about two years, but you’re also in the oil and gas industry, correct? Well, what do you do there?

Lori Blong [00:02:57] So my husband and I have a company, Octane Energy, and we have an E&P company, and then also do quite a bit of well site consulting and contract operating work. So a lot of irons in the fire with that. And then I served three years on city council and I’m finishing my third year as mayor.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:03:11] And, uh, you will be running again, right?

Lori Blong [00:03:13] I am running again. I’m on the ballot right now. So make sure you get out and vote.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:03:17] You heard that, I did not know that there’s also, I had Jim Wright on yesterday, the road commission goes, I’m always running, Rey. I said, yes, sir, my bad, I was sorry. And Mayor Cal, how are you? You’ve been in office for about a year there in Odessa. How’s everything over there?

Cal Hendrick [00:03:30] You know, we, uh, I don’t think people appreciate how difficult it is to run the city council and, uh the city of Odessa or any city, because listen, you have a budget, you’re restricted, what you can do. You have infrastructure all of West Texas, all across Texas. I think infrastructure needs to be repaired. That’s your roads, that’s your water systems, cause your sewer. And so it’s a lot to digest. I mean, think about it. What does the city provide to you? What provides your roads? Your parks, your water, your sewer, your police, your fire. You basically can’t have a building without there being a plat. You can’t do that without a building code. So the city provides so much more than most people realize and to wrap your head around it, to find a budget to satisfy each department because everybody wants to grow. Like we want, you know, the fire wants more fire stations. Police want a new fire station. People want new roads. We have infrastructure, aging infrastructure, like pipelines that are 50 to 75 years old. It’s a lot to do. I want people to know that we’re working hard. We believe we’re in a position that economically we’re going to be blowing up in the next couple of years. Everybody wants to be part of West Texas. I mean, let’s face it. Number one is the — that’s hard to say — the oil and gas energy industry is so critical to not just West Texas, not just Texas, and not just the United States but the entire world. You know, the Permian Basin itself, it was a country to be the fourth largest producer in the world. In the world! So think about it, we’re providing energy for plants and for schools and for houses. And so what we do out here in the oil field is critical to everyone functioning well. And so it’s the cleanest, safest, best source of energy that exists right now. And so we’re proud to be a part of it with our sister city, Midland. We’re proud of what we have accomplished so far. A lot of work to be done to keep this country and this world energized.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:05:24] You know, that is so true. In the teaser, I said two of the most powerful people in Texas, and I always say that we do lead the nation and set the example for the world. So you two, I can’t imagine the power, like what y’all have to go through, but y’ all don’t work with just the local, like y’ aren’t just, y’ are aren’t normal mayors. And Cal, for you, or excuse me, Mayor, I can, you really just really showed why. Uh, Lori wouldn’t- When people talk to you about Midland, what are they saying and what just makes it so exciting?

Lori Blong [00:06:00] I think Midland is really an important piece of the greater energy matrix. When we look at the way that oil and gas works around the world, a lot of the innovation that comes to the energy industry comes through the Permian Basin, through Odessa and Midland. And so the collaboration that we have as communities, through our municipal government and other parts of our government and leadership, but also through our industry. Really are critical to the success of the energy industry around the world and we’re exporting those technologies all over the place and so the collaboration that we have is a critical component of that. I think it’s really important for Midland and Odessa to work together and that’s one of the reasons that I’m so thankful that Cal Hendrick and I have become friends. We’ve been able to work on quite a few different projects and I think that that is part of the success for the greater Permian Basin is for us to work together on projects that we need to advance for the community.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:06:50] You heard that here first. Oh, the crude truth exclusive. The mayor of Midland is friends with the mayor of Odessa. Well, you heard that first here as an exclusive. Did not know we were getting that today. You mentioned collaboration. I was on it. I did another podcast this morning and I talked about Brian and he’s the perfect collab guy. He, you’re on the, well, and the reason why is you’re on city council in Midland. And you run one of the larger successful companies in Odessa. What makes you want to do all this work is you really are a perfect middleman to bring these two together.

Brian Stubbs [00:07:28] Well, and that’s just the Permian Basin. And kind of what the mayor said, we’re learning that this touches everybody in America’s life. Like what we do here in the Permia Basin touches everybody. And that when the cities are coming together, like we have the last three or four years, we are making some gigantic strides, not in just the cities, but in education and things to do and companies that we’re bringing in. There’s some amazing things that happen when these two cities come together. We’ve got the workforce, we got the energy, we got people, we’ve got resources to really do some amazing thing. And to be able to work with these two on some of those projects is mind blowing. When we sit down at a table and say, hey, we want to fix this, we come out of the room with a solution and a plan and we go do it. And it’s just a very unique situation to do that here in the Permian Basin.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:08:09] You know, guys, we talk about bootstraps in the oil and gas industry, and I don’t think there’s a better example than you three. All each own successful companies, but yet y’all are also serving the community. That was actually one of the topics we talked about this morning when I was on another one. So it’s just the serving that you guys are doing. You know Cal, when you decided to run, did you know that you’d be doing this much serving in the community?

Cal Hendrick [00:08:35] No, the truth is I thought the mayor set up there once every other week and we had a meeting and I knew there was other things, obviously, but what I did know is that you’re gonna be working 40 to 50 hours a week. What I did is there’d be an event every day. When I say an event, I usually have four or five different events throughout the day, plus at night, plus on weekends. And I just didn’t understand the scope of how busy our community really is. I mean, we have subsections of our community. For example, we have, it could be… The black community, the Hispanic community, or the Nigerian community. There’s a lot of communities that, the Filipino community, I mean, there’s so many communities that you don’t even know exist here until you’re invited to one of their holiday celebrations, festivities, and you’re like, wow, I had no idea. There’s so people, it’s like, we’re a melting pot. We’re like America in a miniature version of it, that people flock here because of their expertise, whether it’s engineering, whether it is teaching. There’s many different reasons people come here. For freedom. It’s a very independent-minded community. When I say community, I’m going to tell you the truth. Desa and Millard are two great communities separated by county line because the truth is, we’re one in the same. We’re just, they’re just a little bit of a highway between the two of us. And the truth, is if you put Desa Millard together as well as counties, you’re looking at about 500, 600,000 people on a daily basis. And look at a chart, population chart. We’d be the sixth, seventh largest city in Texas. People don’t realize that. We’re big and we’re growing. But we’re growing not just any one segment, it’s across the board. Whether it’s truck driving, welding, whether it’s more professional work, we are always looking for more people because we’re underemployed. We have people that are working 40 hours a day. I mean, I work nine days a week because we don’t have enough people. And so we invite people to come see what we have to offer. And what we had to offer is great communities, lots of activities, good schools, great higher education. Between Odessa College, Midland College, UTPB. Has campuses both in Ector and Midland County. Why? Because we see, I think this generation, we see the power, the power that togetherness brings. For too long, I thank our communities were separated by prejudices and by 20 miles, right? And it’s silly, my grandmother didn’t wanna eat dinner in Midland and I have kids that live there now, my daughter lives there and I go there almost every day. Listen, go on 191, Highway 80, I-20, between seven and eight or between four and six. Where all these people come from? It is crazy. Go in the dark and see the headlines. You’d think we’re on I-35. It is amazing, the people that for some reason, live in Odessa, work in Midland, or work in the middle of Odessa. Who cares? At the end of the day, who cares? As long as you’re happy, as long as found that niche, whether it be employment, whether it’d be a church, whether it would be school, whatever, we don’t care. Come join us. Be part of something that’s successful. Watch the Permian Basin grow and succeed, because that’s what we’re doing.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:11:28] You know you talk about it 191. That’s where the Costco and the Bass Pro is right that Highway alone has just continued to grow over the last five or six years When you guys are looking at continue to build, you know mayor Laurie you mentioned reinvesting into this community and with with both of y’all here sometimes what I like to tell Individuals when I do these different interviews You look at the larger independents and some of these other guys like the double eagles, the diamondbacks, they’re actually now actually reinvesting into these towns. You didn’t see that back in the days of the Gulf and they just came in, they sucked it dry and they got out of there. You guys are creating places for them to really grow. And one concern that we always talk about and people always want to know is about. Produced water. You know, what are y’all doing on that front Lori? I’ll let you go first on that.

Lori Blong [00:12:31] So I think you’re exactly right. When you talk about just the work between our two communities and the way that we have so much reinvestment that is needed into our communities. I know in the city of Midland, we have some of our pipelines under our infrastructure, under our roadways that are carrying fresh water to houses that were last touched in the 50s. That’s really a staggering thing to think about. Even more pipelines that were lost touched in 70s. And so all of that… Infrastructure, it corrodes and it wears out. And it’s time for us to reinvest back into some of those aging infrastructure, but at the same time, we have so much expansion in our community and growth, population growth and industry growth. And so to be able to stay up with the growth of our communities for the municipal needs, we have to be able to address not just the reinvestment in old infrastructure, but the investment in expanded infrastructure. And we have to have community conversations about how we’re gonna do that. And so a lot of those have been between Midland and Odessa and the industry. A lot of conversation about how we can use industry technologies on advanced water treatment. At this point, we’re not really talking about taking produced water and using it for municipal purposes. I think maybe that day will come, but we’re out there today. But we’ve had some pilot programs between the city of Midland and industry to be able to say, how can we use some of this advanced technology? To have advanced treatment on our municipal water sources to just high grade our water quality. I think there’s more to be done in that space. And we’re gonna be seeing some other opportunities for that kind of technology. But I really think that the key word I want us to focus on is reinvestment. We have to reinvest back into ourselves in West Texas. We have the appetite and the collaborative willingness to sit at the table and figure out how to put that investment back in. Some of that’s going to be the Diamondbacks, and the Double Eagles, and the other companies that have the opportunity to put back into our infrastructure and our community. But a lot of that is going to be their investment in our quality of life, making sure that we have amenities here that families want to be able to grow and thrive and stay here in Midland. And so it’s a complex and multifaceted issue, and I’m really thankful to be working with the team that I am. City council is not just the mayor making decisions, whether you’re in Midland or in Odessa. We’re working with a team of folks. We have to be able to collaborate and make good decisions together. And that requires some leadership because these are, in our case, and I think in Odesa’s case, we’ve got seven strong personalities on our council and everybody has different ideas of how things need to go. So to be to have a framework and a vision for where we’re going and filter our decision-making for all of those things is critically important and it takes the ability to collaborate.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:15:09] Yeah, I’m just sitting here listening and, you know, the way that y’all are able to open up and collaborate about all this produced water, and yes, I’ve had on General Land Commissioner Don Buckingham, Dr. Buckinghams, and you know she talks about these programs that these trial programs, and even using repurposed water for non edible and doing those kinds of crops. But you talk about the infrastructure mayor count of data centers, you know, that’s one thing that people continue to ask me about. And I always like to say, we’re going to be doing great at it because we got the liquid natural gas that we’re gonna be able to power these. What is the Odessa’s and West Texas doing about these power centers and bringing into this because AI is not going away.

Cal Hendrick [00:15:55] No, it’s- it’s a- industry that’s obviously up and coming. Although I did see the show Terminator and iRobot so I do want to caution everyone we ought to pay a lot of attention to what we’re doing but from an economic perspective from economic perspective look those plants are billion dollar plants to build you know you they need power they need wear footage space acres of land and you’ve the land. West Texas has the power. In fact, we have more, we flare gas off. We have so much gas. While people hadn’t built gigantic turbines to be powered by natural gas, I’ve yet to figure out. And that’s another conversation. But we have that power available, the gas to build those plants and to have that secondary power. We also have solar and wind. The wind’s blowing right now, right? It’s sunny outside right now. It’s always sunny and always windy in West Texas. So now we’ve got power source and we got water. I think Mill and Odessa have both struggled in the past. But now we have long-term plans and both cities now have 100-year supplies of water, so we have that too. And going back to your produce water, there’s so much technology right now. We’re at the oil show. There’s a reason you’re here. Why? Because this is where the greatest mines are that are figuring out better processes. We do have gray water, we have brackish water, we have produce water. Someday, and it’s the near future I think, we’re going to have the ability to turn that into fresh water, but we certainly could use it right now for our golf courses are part. We could use it in down-hole, would you tell us you have to have fresh water? So all these technologies, they’re emerging and they’re innovative because the people that are right here at this show are coming up with better ways, better process for the future. So we’re going to have the water. We’re going have the land. We’re gonna have the power. So this is the greatest place to be. Now, from an economic perspective, we love new industries coming to our part of the world. We’re a little concerned, I’m not going to lie about it, we’re a lot concerned about business that bring in. Very few employees. It just doesn’t seem like a great idea if you don’t have, if it’s not backed by a lot of manpower. Why? Because we want people, we want new housing, we want all the stuff that comes with population. And so the lack of man power normally and the lack in sales tax, I’m not gonna lie to you, if you have a $30 billion initial investment but you don’t have anything from it afterwards, that’s not attractive to a city. And there’s some ways of tracking that data now. And the gigabytes or terabytes and all these other words I don’t want to use because I don’t want to talk about except the fact that you have to track them. When you track them, you can develop sales tax from that. Now that’s a different story, right? It’s a game changer. So we’re open to it, but it’s common sense. That’s the thing about being an elected official. You have to do what’s best for your community and for the entire community. And so we’re looking hard at all those. We think it’s a great place for them to be, but we do have Well, you have to be honest with our people and they have to understand their and the cons. We have to make good decisions for our people based on all of that. So it’s not an easy, simple conversation. It’s more complex than that. But we understand the pros and cons. We want everybody else to understand them, as well as the AI companies. They need to be aware that they’re, you know, use a lot of water, use lot of power, but you don’t generate any revenue. Is that really what we want as a community? So there’s a lot different conversations that are being had. An entire, I’d say the entire West Texas corridor from, say, Abilene all the way to to Permian Basin. And so we’re looking into it. We want it, but we want it to be the best thing for our people here in Odessa and Midland and the Permian Basin as a whole.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:19:29] Wow, that was a lot to unpack there, you know?

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:19:38] Well, they do that going on. Well, speaking of that, and you’re quiet. So you’ve now been on City Council for about a year, give or take. OK, what are you guys doing to incentivize companies to come be a part of the Midland? I know you’re in Midland, but what are y’all doing? And what are seeing? I mean, you own a very successful company. What are you seeing, and how are you trying to get other people to come into town?

Brian Stubbs [00:20:01] Well, actually, I think one of the really neat things, and going back to collaboration, I think because Midland and Odessa are starting to work together, we’re on a different set of radar. So these larger companies now are kind of looking at us as the same. And so that, again, we go from 250,000 people to 500,000 when we put the two counties together, and we’re starting to get people actually coming to us. And that makes it really exciting because it’s just a different conversation. And again, having anchors like Costco and the Bass Pro Shop. Now people are starting to say, hey, now there’s a shopping corridor on 191 and there’s land on 19 1. And so we are actually having a lot of people come in, I think the both cities and just say, Hey, we want to figure this out. And again, they see Midland on the national news. They see what Midland does, they what Odessa does, and they see what the whole Permian does and that there’s not a lot stuff even outside Midland Odessa, it gets pretty sparse, right? So we are a hub and I think people are certain to come in and really say we want to do business with y’all. I think it has a lot to do with our grit and our, you know, kind of base that workforce that we have, and once they get here, they’re ready to go. Citi probably has a dozen kind of going on at all times, and it’s just really neat to get into these conversations and really work through what those companies need. And then I think the other thing that’s really changed and kind of unofficial data, almost every company that’s opened in the last year has had a record first day a record week. When they opened in Midland Odessa. So Rudy’s, the Costco, and there’s another one, record day, nationwide record days. And so, I mean, we’re on the news for many, many different reasons, and we’re a lot of people’s radar, which makes making Midland-Odessa a great place to live really easy, so.

Lori Blong [00:21:41] I have one thing I wanted to add about this, the incentives that we’re looking at and we’re very ROI driven. We want to make sure that as we’re look at possible incentives and different groups that are interested in coming to our communities, I think Midland and Odessa both are filled with prudent business people. And we want to say, yes, we want you here, but we have to have an ROI. We have to be able to show that return to our community. And so it goes back to what Mayor Hendrick was talking about with the data centers and with some of these retail opportunities. We have to be able to demonstrate that ROI. And whenever we’re having conversations with different folks, I think they’re finding us to hold fast to that. We wanna make sure that that’s gonna happen. And sometimes that ROI is gonna be a little bit different based on the industry that they’re in, but we wanna make we’re not investing in something that is not accretive to our community in terms of the quality of life that it helps with, but also bringing revenue back to our people.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:22:33] Wow, this, you guys are truly on the same page. It is so fun though, to hear the riz between the Texas largest Costco, Bath Pro Shop opening and y’all, these are literally on the Same Highway. And so it’s just always fun. Guys, I got it, I have to do this. So Mayor Hendrick, if you could give Midland one compliment, what would-

Cal Hendrick [00:23:00] I think Midland has done an excellent job on economic development being aggressive being looking for that Industry that can grow and do well. And so listen we want to there’s a lot of things in Midland I want to copy why because the most sincere form of of um Flattery is imitation and they’re doing a lot Of good things and so I got friends right here Uh, I met brad on the campaign trail last year as he was in midland. I was in odessa I met laura, you know a year ago and like Dog got it, we get along, we think the same, we want what’s best for our communities. And there’s always gonna be a lot of friendly competition, but there’s also, what can we do to help you? What can you do to us? There’s not an event that goes by that I don’t try to call Lori and say, can you come to this event from, I got a call yesterday from, they’re having a big barbecue, Daniel’s Energies have this gigantic barbecue. Like, you got an event, they wanted me to judge. You gotta call Mayor Blong, I gotta judge with her. And so, she’s not gonna be there because she has her own energy company, right? But I didn’t know that. But my point is there’s nothing that we’re not trying to involve the other one to do what’s best for both communities, because as Odessa grows, Midland grows. As Midland grow, Odessa grow. So it’s really the fact that Midland has, with Lori’s leadership, Mayor Long’s leadership they’ve really taken a big step forward. And that whole building continues that trend in November 4th of the election date is, but I’m supporting her because I think she’s done a great job. I think is really making Midland a more attractive city. From an economic perspective, from an education, from a road, everything they’re doing is great. And I support her a hundred percent. I support Midland. I want you to come to Odessa. But I love Midland, so… Love and best of luck to you!

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:24:42] Are y’all getting a new hotel?

Lori Blong [00:24:44] We are getting a new hotel here.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:24:45] Okay, a little good. Well, I’m just curious. That Marriott over there is pretty nice on her desk.

Lori Blong [00:24:54] We’re on the road.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:24:55] Mary Laurie, same thing. What is one thing you can say nice about Odessa?

Lori Blong [00:24:59] Well, I really am thankful to get to be here and celebrate the collaboration between our two communities. I don’t think it’s a secret that Odessa has had some challenges here recently and that Mayor Hendrick has walked into some things that have been hard. And so I really want to compliment his diligence and his attention to detail to get some of those things back on the right track and making sure that the financial procedures and everything else are being taken care of. Just give him kudos for addressing those and taking on some of these issues head on. And also leading in the conversation in Odessa and really bringing a lot of folks to the table. I see more collaboration going on over here among different entities than I’ve seen in a long time. And I think that’s due to his leadership and to the team that he’s built around himself. And so really thankful for the opportunity to be here and to celebrate those things.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:25:44] I cannot thank y’all enough. I’m gonna go around with just one more time. Brian, platform’s yours for a minute. You wanna talk about air compression, whatever you wanna do, but I’m going to do both of y’alls as well, so just final words from you, Brian. How can people find air compressor solutions?

Brian Stubbs [00:26:00] You so always for supporting me. Well, thanks for coming in. My day job is air compressor solutions. Like I said, we’re in your Sarand and Doosan and Bobcat dealer here along with some other stuff. We’ve got branches here in Odessa, in Carlsbad, New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Amarillo, and El Paso. So come find us if you need anything air or power or small equipment. Welcome to help anybody. The other thing I’ll just say, if I get my little platform, I love this place and I want know I live in Midland I’m on the Midland City Council I work in Odessa, I work in Carlsbad, and just being in the middle of what’s happening in the Permian Basin is actually unreal. We’ve talked a lot of today about collaboration. I really don’t think there’s cities that are working like we are in the permian basin. We do talk regularly. It’s not like we talk at events. We see each other and we go have lunch or we go do this. We talk and we talk through problems. And I don’t think that’s happening around the world like it is here. And again, I think we’ve talked about this before. We’re learning that as one city grows and learns something it’s so beneficial to share that and see it happen somewhere else and really come together and solve these problems. And again, we’ve seen it before, Midland goes up, Odessa tries to catch up, but it’s just so much better if we’re doing it together and kind of not butting heads instead we’re sitting down at a table solving problems. And these two actually are amazing. I sit at the table solving problem and I don’t know of any two cities that are talking as much as we are with Midland and Odessa.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:27:20] This has been fun and collaboration is always at the top. I know somehow they tried to teach us that you got to do it yourself. Mayor Hendrick of Odessa, platform is yours, sir. Are you running for office right now or anything? But whatever it is, you know.

Cal Hendrick [00:27:34] No sir, not for another three years. We’ll see about that. Now I wanna say that number one, I wanna express my appreciation for Brian for having us today to let us have this conversation. I think it’s important for the people in the Permian Basin to know that Odessa and Midland are working together and we’re here to do our best. And when you do your best, good things happen. And I’m so excited to be part of this industry. I graduated college in the eighties. I went to law school because in the 80s, oil was $10 a barrel, and there were no jobs in Texas. I lived through the 60s and 70s, and I saw my dad in the oil business, and I always thought I was going to be an oil guy. And the truth of it is, they thought oil was gone in the eighties, thought oil is gone from the Permian Basin. It was over, it was done, right? I didn’t give up on it. I came back in 90, graduated from UT Law School, and decided to, this is my hometown, I’m going to do what’s best for it. So. I worked hard and I’ve done the best I can. And what I see is that other people did the same. And where my generation, we graduated from high school, we all moved to Dallas and Houston and whatever. My daughter’s, her generation and my son, their friends have all moved back. Why? Because there’s work here. People that are innovative, that are intentional, that are wildcats, they’re little risk takers. This is where the money is. This is the, you can graduate high school and become a millionaire in the Permian Basin. It’s hard to do that in Dallas or Houston. You can come out here and work hard every day, go to work, and make something of yourself and build a company up. Those opportunities don’t exist other places. Well, I reach out to everyone across Permian Basin, Texas, the nation and the world saying, if you want to do well, the Permian basin is where you need to be. There is where the opportunity is for people to get ahead. If you want grow a business, this is the place to be, the energy, we’re bullish. We think the world needs more energy. It’s gonna be in these 50 to 100 more years of petroleum-based products, and your economy’s not gonna survive if we don’t provide the energy that you need, whether it be your city, your county, your country, your business. So this is where I want everybody to be and know that the opportunity is here, and the sky’s the limit. You can do as much as you want. You can become from a school teacher to owning your own oil and gas company and being the mayor of Midland. That’s what Merritt Blom did. And so my point is, my point The thing is, you could… Drive a truck out here and become a multi-billionaire because that’s where the opportunity is right here in the Permian Basin. So that’s my take on it is come here because this is where the work is, this is is where opportunity is, and if you’re willing to work hard, there’s no stopping you.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:30:12] Man, you guys are just too kind to each other and y’all mean it. Mayor Blong, again, you’re in an election. I want you to be last, the platform is yours and thank y’alls so much.

Lori Blong [00:30:22] Well, I really appreciate it. And I do want to echo what they’ve already said, that Midland is a place, Midland and Odessa and the greater Permian Basin are a place where innovation thrives. We do face problems as communities and we face problems in industry, but I believe that oil and gas and the industry that surrounds it is an honorable work. We are doing honorable work to be able to get affordable, reliable, clean energy that the world needs. And the places in the world that have affordable, plentiful, reliable, clean energy, those places are thriving. And so Midlanders and Odessans and people in the oil and gas business need to be proud of the work that we’re doing. And we need to thankful for the opportunities that we have, but we also need to take the responsibility to make this place where we live a reflection of the innovation that’s coming out of our industry. And so I think when we turn that industry perspective and that gratitude for what we have opportunities for here in the Permian. We turn that back into our communities and we look for opportunities to be a blessing to the people that are around this. Midland and Odessa both have a lot of people with a lot wealth, but we also have communities, subsets of our communities that really struggle, that are financially struggling and families that have to work really hard to make ends meet. And that opportunity that is here, the wildcatter spirit that Mayor Hendrick talked about is absolutely available for everyone. But we also to be pragmatic about the fact that there are places that are struggling. And so… The way that we come together as communities to care for people around us in ways that they need it, that’s an important part of being able to make the Permian thrive and grow. And so I really believe that as we work together as communities and not only just between our two cities, we’ve talked a lot about that, but we also are working great with our state government and our leadership there. We’re thankful to be able to welcome. Railroad commissioners, and state legislators, and even our governor was out here last week. You know, this is a place where the state of Texas recognizes that the Permians pay in the bills through severance taxes, we know that. And so we have the opportunity to have the ear of those folks. And then at the federal level, I mean, we are now, we have several national defense contractors that have a presence here in the Permian, and we’re recognizing the national defense implications and the national security implications. Of the Permian Basin and the world-class reserves that do exist here in the Permia. And so Midland matters, Odessa matters, not just here locally to our region, but we matter to the state, to the nation, and ultimately to the world. That’s a great thing to be a part of. And I’m really thankful to have that opportunity in my oil and gas business and raising my own family here. You know, I’m here because I love Midland and I could be somewhere else, but I’ve chosen to be here. And I’m thankful for those opportunities. And I am thankful for the opportunity to serve for another term and make sure that we have what we need going into the future. So that families truly can thrive and flourish in West Texas.

Rey “RT” Treviño III [00:33:08] Guys, I cannot thank y’all enough for the Odessians to the Midlanders. The key word here today is collaboration that together we’re only gonna continue to grow as a state and as a nation is being together, talking to one another. And keep in mind, at the federal level, the president, no matter who it is, come and shakes the hand of the mayor of Odessa and the mayor Midland. I’ll let that seek in. Thank you as always, what a great time, and we’ll see you again on another episode of The Crude Truth.

Narrator [00:33:42] Again, the crude truth would like to thank today’s sponsors. LFS Chemistry, Nape Expo, Air Compressor Solutions, Sandstone Group, Exec Crue, Texas Start Alliance, Pecos Country Operating and Real News Communication Network

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