Texas regulator says "misunderstanding" is making millennials shun oilfield jobs

[TexasTowelie]

by Kiah Collier, Texas Tribune


If you ask Wayne Christian, the biggest threat to the oil and gas industry in Texas is millennials — and a general public that's been brainwashed into thinking that fossil fuels are bad for the environment.

That’s what the former Republican state representative — who now regulates the state’s oil and gas industry as one of three elected members of the Texas Railroad Commission — told his former colleagues during a legislative hearing on Wednesday where state, local and industry officials detailed the many challenges of the latest oil and gas boom in West Texas.

One of the tasks the House Energy Resources Committee has been assigned ahead of the 2019 legislative session is figuring out how the state can “facilitate investment in public infrastructure and workforce development in the Permian Basin region,” where heavy truck traffic is decimating roads and the oil and gas industry is struggling to find truck drivers and other qualified workers as production ramps up again.

Christian repeatedly said the workforce development problem is due to misinformation and lack of education about the benefits of the oil and gas industry, which he said has led to “a better, safer, cleaner environment.”

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/04/18/wayne-christian-misunderstanding-millenials-biggest-threat-oil-industr/