Powering the Permian – how national policies could affect local industries in upcoming presidential election

 

The race to the White House has under 3 months left to go.

How could who’s elected president, and their beliefs affect the local economy in the Permian Basin? Specifically, oil and gas jobs.

ABC Big 2’s Chris Talley spoke with the owner of a local petroleum company about how he and many others might be affected by the upcoming presidential election.

“This affects everybody in our population here, especially in Southeastern New Mexico and West Texas,” said Kirk Edwards, President and CEO of Latigo Petroleum in Odessa.

Since the 1980s, Edwards has operated the company and says he’s no stranger to how politics nationally have affected how he conducts business.

“Somehow in the past few decades it became a ‘political football’ and we’ve seen it go both ways – there’s no doubt about it,” Edwards said.

In recent years,  the Biden Administration has pushed the transition to green energy across the country and imposed regulations on oil and gas like higher costs to drill on public land.

The Trump Administration before reduced regulatory burdens as it tried to push more U.S. energy production and exports.

Looking to this election as Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris tries to sway voters in Pennsylvania, the second largest producer of nature gas production behind Texas, she recently has changed her stance on oil fracking. This goes against her beliefs four years ago to have it banned as she campaigned for president in 2020...more