Texas runs on oil. That’s not a bumper sticker – it’s an economic reality. The fossil fuel industry employs hundreds of thousands of Texans, bankrolls public schools, and keeps the lights on in a state that proudly powers much of the nation. Mess with oil and gas in Texas, and you’re not just tinkering with policy. You’re threatening a way of life.
Which makes it all the more alarming when a candidate for the United States Senate quietly builds a legislative record designed to strangle that industry from the inside. Especially when his campaign pretends otherwise.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation:
President Donald Trump claimed early Friday that Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico would end oil drilling in Texas.
Talarico’s 2021 Texas Climate Action Act would have required state regulators to cap Texas’ greenhouse gas emissions at least 90 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, according to the text of House Bill 2206. While the bill did not mention drilling it did propose stringent emissions regulations in the name of combatting climate change.
Trump exposes Talarico’s radical agenda for Texas
President Trump went straight at the Democratic nominee on Truth Social, and he wasn’t gentle about it. He pointed to a February 2022 forum on Winter Storm Uri where Talarico – face covered by a large mask as he spoke – declared that “FOSSIL FUELS ARE DESTROYING THE PLANET.”
Fossil fuels are destroying the planet. From a man running for Senate in Texas. Remarkable.
Trump, who branded the Democrat “TalaFREAKO,” added: “In other words, no more drilling for Oil in Texas. That should be the end of his campaign!!!” He also threw his full weight behind Republican nominee Ken Paxton, calling him “the greatest Attorney General in the history of Texas.”
Now, predictably, some media outlets scrambled to point out that Talarico’s climate bill never explicitly banned drilling. Technically accurate. Also completely beside the point.
Do the math
Here’s what House Bill 2206 actually proposed. Texas emitted 663 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2022. Talarico’s bill would have capped emissions at 90 percent below 1990 levels – roughly 57 million metric tons. That’s a 91 percent reduction from where the state sits today.
Think about that for a second. Ninety-one percent.
You cannot slash emissions by that magnitude without gutting oil and gas production. Period. It’s not a ban on paper. It’s a ban by math. The regulation would have made drilling economically impossible – death by compliance rather than honest prohibition.
The bill even directed state regulators to coordinate with the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the oil and gas industry, on petroleum refining and fuel supplies. So yes, drilling was very much in the crosshairs. And yet the legislation never even received a committee vote. Apparently nobody in the Texas House wanted their fingerprints on it.
The “all of the above” fiction
Despite this record, Talarico’s campaign now insists he supports an “all of the above” energy strategy so Texas can “remain a leader in oil and gas, wind, solar, geothermal, and more.” His spokesman delivered that gem to The Dallas Express earlier this year. Bold strategy for a guy who authored a bill that would have kneecapped the state’s dominant industry.
The bill’s language goes even further into fringe territory. It claimed climate change increases “risks of waterborne and foodborne diseases” and linked it to the spread of “SARS-CoV-2, Zika and Lyme.” Climate legislation moonlighting as pandemic theory. Hard to call that mainstream.
Here’s the rich part. At that same 2022 forum, Talarico acknowledged that oil and gas is “a big part of our heritage” and that his great-grandfather worked in the oil fields. Heritage worth celebrating at a microphone, apparently, but not worth protecting in the legislature.
A clear choice for Texas
President Trump stripped away the campaign veneer and put Talarico’s actual record in front of voters. No spin. No focus-grouped talking points. Just the legislation and the man’s own words.
Texas voters face a simple decision this November. Ken Paxton has spent his career defending the state’s sovereignty and its industries. James Talarico authored a bill that would have demolished the economic engine powering millions of Texas families.
In the state that built modern American energy, the choice practically makes itself.
Key Takeaways
- Trump directly exposed Talarico’s anti-fossil fuel record, endorsing Ken Paxton for Texas Senate.
- Talarico’s 2021 climate bill demanded a 91% emissions cut – effectively an oil and gas death sentence.
- His campaign claims an “all of the above” energy stance that flatly contradicts his own legislation.
- Texas voters now face a stark choice between energy prosperity and radical environmental regulation.
Sources: Truth Social
