Cruz touts new energy ideas at birthplace of oil industry

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, stood near the site of the Spindletop oil well, the 1901 gusher that launched the petroleum age, to promote the energy "Renaissance" occurring today.

"Restoring jobs and economic growth is the number one priority for Americans and we have a clear path before us to do exactly that," Cruz said. "A Great American Energy Renaissance is now underway that we should embrace." 

Supporting the energy revolution is in the interest of "every Republican, Democrat, Independent and Libertarian," he said.

The senator visited Beaumont on Feb. 19, and stopped at the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum near Lamar University, a reconstructed boomtown from the era following the discovery of oil at the Spindletop Hill.

With the fifth anniversary of what Cruz calls President Barack Obama's "failed" stimulus this week, the senator said it should be a reminder "that jobs are not created by the federal government," but by innovative, hard-working American people.

"This was true when Spindletop became a boomtown and it's true today," Cruz said. "The only difference is an out-of-control federal government didn't stand in Spindletop's way."

He said he plans to introduce energy legislation in the near future that will include steps to expand energy exploration, stop harmful regulations and eliminate barriers to trade.

The proposed bill will include the following measures:

• Prevent federal regulation of hydraulic fracking and leave the regulation in state hands;

• Streamline the permitting process for upgrading and building new refineries;

• Repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard;

• Approve the Keystone pipeline, additional national pipelines and cross-border energy infrastructure;

• Stop EPA overreach;

• Stop the War on Coal;

• Exclude greenhouse gases from regulation by the EPA and other federal agencies;

• Stop certain EPA regulations that will adversely impact coal and electric power plants;

• Increase energy development on federal land, including the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and Indian land;

• Expand the offshore areas of the Outer Continental Shelf and streamline the permitting process for offshore expansion;

• Expand LNG exports by facilitating permits;

• End the crude oil export ban; and

• Prevent excessively broad environmental review of coal export terminals.

“It's clear that President Obama's agenda is dragging our economy down. Obamacare is killing jobs, his energy regulations are killing jobs, and his ideas to mandate a higher minimum wage will kill even more jobs," he said. "We don't need more anti-growth ideas; what we need is a Great American Energy Renaissance to save us from the Obama economy."