President Donald Trump asserted early Friday that James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the Texas Senate, would put a stop to oil drilling in the state.
Talarico’s Texas Climate Action Act, introduced in 2021, aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Texas to at least 90 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Although the bill didn’t directly mention drilling, it proposed strict emissions regulations to tackle climate change, according to details from House Bill 2206.
According to the Texas Legislature’s website, there hasn’t been any action on this legislation since it was referred to a House committee back in March 2021.
The proposal called for reducing emissions by 50 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and enabled the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to implement a system of “market-based declining annual aggregate emission limits” for greenhouse gas sources, based on the bill’s text.
In 1990, Texas produced around 570.1 million metric tons of emissions, which increased to 663 million by 2022. The proposed reduction by 2050 would mean limiting emissions to about 57 million tons—approximately 91 percent lower than the emissions in 2022.
When applying this to the state’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, it implies a cut of about 91 percent compared to 2022, according to an analysis by the Daily Caller News Foundation using Energy Information Administration (EIA) data. The legislation also instructed state regulators to collaborate with the Texas Railroad Commission on aspects related to petroleum refining and fuel supplies.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, referred to Talarico’s comments from earlier when he wore a mask and stated, “FOSSIL FUELS ARE DESTROYING THE PLANET.”
He commented, “In other words, no more drilling for Oil in Texas. That should be the end of his campaign!!!” (RELATED: James Talarico Raises More In Third Quarter Than Any Senate Candidate In History)
Talarico made that statement during a forum on Winter Storm Uri in February 2022, as highlighted in a video of the event.
During the same forum, he mentioned that oil and gas are “a big part of our heritage” and noted that his great-grandfather worked in the oil fields, expressing his desire for Texas to be “number one” in renewable energy.
The White House directed inquiries to the 2022 video featuring Talarico. The Talarico campaign had not immediately responded to requests for comments.
Trump branded the Democrat “TalaFREAKO” in his post, asserting that he is “running for U.S. Senate against the greatest Attorney General in the history of Texas,” referring to Republican Ken Paxton, the GOP nominee.
Talarico, a member of the Texas House, mentioned on X on Feb. 24, 2021, the day he filed the bill, that it “will marshal the resources of our state government to fight climate change.”
The campaign spokesman, JT Ennis, conveyed in April that Talarico “supports an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy so Texas can remain a leader in oil and gas, wind, solar, geothermal, and more,” according to The Dallas Express.
Talarico’s climate bill in 2021 also emphasized that “climate change has a demonstrated and researched-backed impact on human health and safety, including increased natural disasters and enhanced extreme weather, causing damage to ecosystems, social systems, and infrastructure,” along with “heightened risks of waterborne and foodborne diseases … and the spread of disease-carrying insects and animals, transmitting diseases such as SARS-CoV-2, Zika, and Lyme.”
