Hello everyone, I’m Becky Berger – an oil & gas professional and a degreed Geologist and a candidate for the Republican nomination for the Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency responsible for regulating our oil & gas industry. I’m the only candidate in this race who has earned a living drilling oil & gas wells. I’ve made my living on the wellsite – from finding the location to completion of oil and gas wells; I understand this industry and what is required to free our nation from the dependence of foreign oil.
Texas needs Railroad Commissioners who have a thorough knowledge of this industry and who actually want to serve as a Railroad Commissioner – as opposed to using the Commission as a launching pad for higher office or as a consolation prize. I believe that my experience and my commitment to the job make me the most qualified Conservative Republican running for this office.
My professional life has been in the oil & gas industry: while working on my geology degree I worked for the Department of Energy and a state Geological Survey. My father worked for Atlantic Richfield on the pipeline and got me a summer job at a gas processing plant which also oversaw the pipelines in the area leading to the plant. I now know he did this to make sure I finished college. The work was not easy nor the working conditions. My brother was a driller onshore and offshore. The oil field is a way of life for my family and thousands of other families in Texas. Protecting our ability to continue being the largest supplier of petroleum products in the United States and making sure it is done in a conscientious and controlled manner is why I seek this office.
Our Energy Industry fuels the nation, the economy and my husband’s dually, tractor and four-wheeler. Everything we do in daily life is touched by the oil and gas production here in Texas from the food we eat that is grown with fertilizer, planted and harvested with diesel powered farm equipment to the plastic containers in which we store it. Transportation and manufacturing depend on the energy industry. Electricity is a secondary power source that requires a primary fuel to produce it like natural gas, coal and wind.
Technology has made the energy industry more diversified, smarter and safer than ever before. Texas needs to lead the way in making the environment safe with reasonable and commonsense regulation. This can be done with no detrimental effect on production from wind energy, oil & gas, solar, hydroelectric power or whatever the next innovators of this generation are researching now. The regulations in place to keep track of projects and progress need to be carefully thought out to protect people, property and the environment without inhibiting the ability of companies to economically harvest the energy.
I have a great love and respect for this industry; it has been good to me personally; with that I have seen firsthand the good, the bad and the ugly within it. Having been the landowner and the company representative I can tell you when regulations are prohibitive to good management of resources, time and expense – and when they are not sufficient. That’s why my experience combined with my education makes me the best and only choice for the Railroad Commission seat I seek to fill.
My opponents are all good people – but being exposed to an industry is not the same as sleeping, breathing and working in it. If my Uncle were a doctor that doesn’t mean I could perform surgery, the patient might die. That is what happens when the wrong person steps into a job they are not trained to do. Right now, we have an accountant that took office on the Commission in January 2010 and an attorney appointed by the Governor in July 2010 to finish the term vacated earlier this year will be determined in the same election. A third novice on the Commission could be detrimental to the Texas energy business and our economy. It is also critical that we have technical expertise on the Commission. Texans demand and deserve qualified leaders.
At the same time, I believe Texans are requiring a higher ethical standard for their candidates and their officeholders. They have my commitment to set the highest standards possible and to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. If I am elected we will not have loose “Wall Street” standards when it comes to the public’s money and assets that the Railroad Commission oversees or regulates.
I went to college to be in the Oil & Gas business, but have also had the good and rare fortune to work in the mining industry as well. My work has included exploration, exploitation (field development), wellsite geologist, mudlogger, expert witness in civil trials, acquisitions and divestiture of mineral assets. Texas needs an advocate that understands and can explain to Washington, the media and anyone else that needs to know how many jobs this industry provides and how many more it could provide if left unencumbered, regulated properly. Texans can lead the energy producing states in best practices only if the regulators know what best practices are for the energy businesses the Railroad Commission oversees. I can bring sound operations and production experience to the regulatory side of this business.
In addition to being an oil & gas professional, I’m also a wife, mother of three grown children, a rancher, and Republican activist, currently serving as State Republican Executive Committeewoman for Senate District 18; I am honored to serve as Vice-Chairman of the Convention Committee, member of the Candidate Resource Committee and member of the Permanent RPT Location Committee. I also serve on the Texas Federation of Republican Women Board as District Director for Senate District 18, where I have sat on the Budget Committee and Special Events Committee. I have been a Republican since I registered to vote at age eighteen.
I’m proud to be second generation in a family committed to our nation’s energy supply -Now I want to put that experience to work on behalf of the people of Texas so we can lead our nation to energy independence. Texans have my commitment to serve them as their Railroad Commissioner, committed only to this job and the task at hand. I ask for your vote and your support in this race.