EPA Ruling Means More Jobs for Texans

In this week’s version of Sen. Cornyn’s weekly email to constituents he makes some spurious claims about Pres. Obama’s new EPA regulations and energy costs; especially how they will affect Texans. If anything the new regulations will hasten the switch from coal to natural gas for electricity generation which will improve the Texas job outlook.

For most of this year natural gas prices have been falling and drilling activity in the Eagle Ford shale and the Barnett shale areas have dropped precipitously. The new EPA regulations on power plant emissions will encourage electric power companies to switch to natural gas thereby increasing demand for it and hence promoting drilling in Texas again. Drilling brings jobs and good paying ones at that.

An additional benefit is that wind and solar generation will also be encouraged and they produce more high paying jobs than coal does and Texas is a prime location for both. So why is Sen. Cornyn knocking the EPA regulations? Could it be that the investors who own those old dirty coal plants that will be shuttered stand to lose out on further profits? Could it be his campaign contributors from the coal industry aren’t happy?