From the Times Record News
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, believe it or not, he is mightier than Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday during a speech in Wichita Falls.
Abbott said the economy of Texas is heftier than the economies of Canada, Australia – and Russia.
“That makes me more powerful than Putin,” the native Wichitan said to appreciative laughter and applause at the Kay Yeager Coliseum.
The Lone Star State has hit an apex with a Gross Domestic Product of about $1.65 trillion a year, Abbott told hundreds during a keynote speech at the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers’ annual meeting.
Focused on the economy, Abbott made predictions Wednesday mostly related to developments benefitting the state and its independent oil and gas producers.
He said a reformed North American Free Trade Agreement will move forward soon. In addition, the Gulf Coast area will explode with growth, and “cooperative federalism” is on the rise.
Abbott said NAFTA has created about 1 million jobs in Texas and has been a boon to American energy, spurring economic growth, creating jobs and lowering costs for consumers.
He has been in talks with the White House to ensure successful renegotiation of the 24-year-old trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“For the past three to five months, I’ve been actively engaged with the administration in Washington, D.C. to make sure that Texas is doing all it can to help bring NAFTA across the finish line,” he said.
Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and others to ensure they understand that passing “a reformed and improved NAFTA” is important to the U.S. economy, Abbott said.
Trump has long expressed disapproval of NAFTA. He tweeted earlier this week that he might make stopping people from going through Mexico into the U.S. a condition of the new agreement.
But Abbott was optimistic.
“Every hint, suggestion, every clue I get is it looks like NAFTA should be passed and should be coming up for final negotiations here in the coming weeks,” he said. “I have growing confidence that NAFTA will be a done deal.”
He later noted that Texas exports $96 billion of goods and services annually to Mexico.
Abbot said the bad news related to NAFTA is Mexico’s presidential election in July might bring an administration hostile “to Texas, to the United States, to the opening of the oil and gas sector in Mexico.
Later in his speech, the governor painted a picture of a Gulf Coast area poised for “a prolific expansion of manufacturing facilities, production facilities, commercial facilities booming all the way from Beaumont across the entire Gulf Coast all the way down to Brownsville.”
Not just the Gulf Coast but 50 miles inland will see expansion – as a result of what energy producers are doing across Texas, Abbott said.
He said he is working with the small, independent producers at the TAEP event to get the oil and gas out of the Permian basin and other regions to the Gulf Coast.
Once there, oil and gas can be refined, shipped and turned “into products that might have nothing to do with combustion engines but everything to do with medical supplies,” Abbott said.
“On top of things like that, you quite literally have the wind at your back,” he said.
Reforms in taxes and regulations, as well as a new director at the Environmental Protection Agency, will benefit oil and gas operators, Abbott said.
“Cooperative federalism” is on the table and starting to come to fruition, he said.
“It means the federal government is going to be working with the states as it concerns the implementation of the regulations, so it’s going to be far more reasonable going forward,” Abbott said.
While he was serving as Texas attorney general before being elected governor, EPA director Scott Pruitt was serving as Oklahoma attorney general, the governor said.
In their capacity as attorneys general, they brought about a dozen lawsuits, taking issue with the “EPA’s illegal, heavy handed regulations,” Abbott said. Now, the agency is working with states so the energy sector can be more productive.
While speaking, the governor often praised small, scrappy independents for their resilience and strength while signaling more good economic news was ahead for them.
After his speech, Abbott left quickly so he could take a telephone call to speak to the pilot, co-pilot and crew for the April 17 Southwest Airlines flight during which an engine failed 32,000 feet in the air. A woman died after her upper body was sucked out when airplane parts smashed a window.
“I wanted to thank them for saving the lives of so many people, for landing that aircraft safely,” the governor told audience members.
Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, introduced Abbott, noting he was born in Wichita Falls and lived here for six years.
Abbott said he was honored “to be back in my hometown, the great city of Wichita Falls, Texas, and proud to see how well it is doing.”
