Energy summit discusses economy

Energy executives, government officials, leading educators, students and the top minds in the Texas energy industry gathered in a dimly lit banquet room at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center Wednesday.  Debates about energy policy took place, intellects exchanged ideas about the future of energy and numerous business cards exchanged hands.

 An academic consortium called The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas sponsored the 2011 Texas Energy summit. This meeting addressed the future of energy in Texas. Freshman Representative Bill Flores delivered the keynote address to the luncheon.

Rep. Flores, a former energy executive before his election to congress in November, addressed a variety of topics in his remarks.     

Flores said it was important that the summit's site is at A&M because of the amount of research and knowledge that comes out of the university. Additionally, research conducted and the energy industry are vital to a positive economic climate in the nation.

Flores covered topics from views on the importance of affordable energy to the economy, the history of government regulation of the energy sector, the future of nuclear energy and food-based biofuels. Flores said it was the one-year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon drilling accident in the Gulf and expressed his grief to the loss of the drilling crewmembers and his disdain for the drilling moratorium placed in the Gulf of Mexico by the government.

"Government reaction and overreaction will impact future events," Flores said.

The main portion of his comments centered on explaining what Flores calls the "all of the above approach." This approach centers on six tenants: the need to expand nuclear power, maximizing the use of domestic energy and the need to increase energy conservation.

"Our long term goal should be to wean ourselves of oil for transportation," Flores said. "Remember you heard that from an oil and natural gas guy."

He finished by explaining the need to continue focusing on alternative energy sources without government influence, spending more on research and development and expanding the focus on stem education.

"Our energy policy doesn't need to be based off buzzwords like ‘green energy,'" Flores said. "It needs to be based off sound research."

After he finished, Flores conducted a candid question-and-answer session with attendees.

The summit closed with a panel discussion on a regulatory perspective of the Texas energy policy. The panel members included Elizabeth Ann Jones, chairwoman of Texas Railroad Commission, Barry Smitherman, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, and Kathleen Harnett White, director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment. The moderator was Ross Ramsey, managing editor of the Texas Tribune and editor of Texas Weekly.