HOUSTON – Several congressional Republicans met in Houston on Tuesday to decry President Joe Biden’s energy policies, which they said will have a negative impact on Texas.
“These policies are dangerous and they’re reckless,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-District 22).
The Republican leaders are referring to Biden’s executive order aimed at tackling climate change. The order temporarily suspends new oil and gas permits on federal lands and waters. The order also cancels the Keystone XL Pipeline permit.
“You’re destroying the Texas economy,” said U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-District 2). “You are destroying the American economy. This hurts the low income the most.”
The GOP leaders claim that a million jobs will be lost across the country and about 120,000 of those jobs will be in Texas.
“His attack on traditional American energy workers may be cheered by the Green-New-Deal crowd and cheered by Russia and China and the Middle East, but it’s devastating to our workers and their families here in Texas,” said U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-District 8).
However, if you ask University of Houston Chief Energy Officer Ramanan Krishnamoorti about the executive order, his outlook isn’t as bleak.
“This executive order, in my opinion, in the short term, is going to have very little impact on the energy industry in Houston,” said Krishnamoorti.
Krishnamoorti said he believes it could actually lead to more jobs in the future.
“If we can apply ourselves to finding new technology, finding ways to commercialize some of these cleaner technologies, we will be supremely benefited in 15 years from now,” he said.
While the professor said he doesn’t believe there will be big job losses in Houston, he did say that there have already been jobs lost in other parts of the country.