House Energy Resources met on March 20 to hear invited testimony only from the following:
Texas Railroad Commission, Texas Oil and Gas Association, Texas Pipeline Association, and the University of Texas Digital Molten Salt Reactor Initiative.
This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.
Opening Comments
- Chair Goldman – Will be discussing the various aspects of the energy industry
Texas Railroad Commission
Christi Craddick, Chairman RRC
- Overviews the RRC’s jurisdiction; are seeking sole regulatory primacy of carbon capture and underground wells
- Are close to pre-covid numbers currently:
- 4.04m barrels oil per day; down slightly from 2020
- 31 Bcf natural gas per day; up 2 Bcf from two years ago
- 379 rigs and 160k producing oil wells and 480k miles of pipelines
- Have enacted statewide weatherization/critical infrastructure rules as required by SB 3 87(R)
- Seen successful output from operators due to increased communication and weatherization efforts
- SB 3 created TERC that increases communication between agencies and energy partners
- Concerning HB 1520 securitization for natural gas, bond priced 2 weeks ago and will be issued on March 23
- Class 6 wells primacy request; are awaiting application feedback
- North Dakota and Wyoming first to receive primacy; Louisiana has also applied for primacy
Texas Oil and Gas Association
Todd Staples, President TxOGA
- Members represent 85% of the oil and natural gas produced in the state and refining capacity
- In FY 2022 oil and gas paid $24.7b in state and local taxes and state royalties
- Energy production continues to rebound from pandemic lows; demand for Texas has gone up
- Many ports are adding major export facilities as a result
- Growth of natural gas will triple in size over next decade; L&G will be the biggest driver of demand growth over the next 5 years
- Need bold energy leadership to move Texas forward in:
- People should have energy choice and fuel freedom; cities should not make decisions to outlaw/ban simple tools
- Voters agree we are too reliant on other nations of the products we need
- Property tax abatements; hope the House will pass HB 5
- Electricity re-design
- Carbon capture and storage is a trillion-dollar industry; need a policy framework to be competitive with other states
- Funding for seismicity
Texas Pipeline Association
Jennifer Coffey, General Counsel TPA
- TPA consists of 39 member companies; are the only organization covering intra state pipelines
- Pipelines are regulated by 6 state and federal agencies
- New pipeline is going into the ground due to regulatory leadership Texas has
- Pipelines created $48b in economic output and $2.7b in state and local taxes each year
University of Texas Digital Molten Salt Reactor Initiative
Derek Haas, UT Austin
- Texas has the opportunity to expand into Nuclear; reliable and clean
- 4% of grid capacity and produce 9% energy Texas produces per yar
- Are on 24/7 and shut down for about two weeks per year to refuel
- Are two reactors 2 GW being built in Georgia that will be operational 40-100 years
- During Uri reactors were fully functional besides one which can remedy with weatherization
- Small modular reactors could replace retiring coal powerplants
- Could add to the diversity of the supply and power production and cleanup of produced water
- Reactors do not need rail, pipelines, land area; some do not need cooling water
- Can be flexible in their output and are many advances happening in the field right now
Kevin Clarno, UT Austin
- Molten salt reactors do not have the same fundamental fuel challenges as other reactors
- Primary benefit is flexibility to change/innovate with these types of designs
- Can also be used for medical purposes, industrial, and fuel for nuclear fusion
- One molten salt reactor is being designed at Abilene Christian University in partnership with UT, A&M, Georgia Tech
- 7 or 8 different reactors will be built in the next couple years
- Energy market and regulations have changed with time; benefit of this type of reactor
- Need to integrate modeling and simulation approach to connect data with real time computer analysis to understand what is happening in these systems
- Once that is demonstrated, can come back to the regulator to commercialize
- Goldman – Can we get more information on the reactor in Abilene?
- Building will be done in July; operational in 2025; relying on the federal government for the fuel; everything else has been privately funded
- Want to gather data for the regulator
- Goldman – How big is this?
- 1 MW; will not be connected to the grid; are relatively small
- Goldman – Long term goal?
- To generate data so this can be commercialized
- Thierry – How competitive is this business?
- Are different as they provide much higher temperatures which open up to other markets and are smaller
- Thierry – Any one is constructed in the country?
- Haas – Are reports that China has one; in the U.S. are many companies who are looking to get going
- Do not have hard numbers on dollars/kWh
- Zwiener – Interested in this technology; can you alleviate people’s concerns about nuclear?
- Haas – Many fears about nuclear are not founded on real risk; these small reactors make it even safer
- Common misconception of how nuclear fuel is transported; have not been major accidents associated with that
- If people have fears, need to be addressed and communicated
- Have different fuel forms in the smaller reactors; safe transport is the main objective
- Zwiener – Concerns about spent fuel rods, do these have a shorter half-life, easier storage solutions?
- Some new nuclear reactors waste to be radioactive for a long amount of time can reduce that to 300 years
- Morales – Difference in Chernobyl versus Fukushima?
- Reactor designs; is possible for radioactive material to kill people, but it is about dose
- Morales – Asks about a graph provided to the committee
- Shows during Uri nuclear did drop, but came back on within hours