U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is Coming to San Angelo

SAN ANGELO, TX — U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who is also the former governor of Texas, is scheduled to attend the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce’s West Texas Legislative Summit in San Angelo on August 2. The 15th annual event will focus on “Energy: A Landscape of Opportunity.”

Perry is a good friend of Texas oil and gas producers, especially shale oil producers, an energy technological revolution Perry has called transformative. On the campaign stump for president in both 2012 and 2016, Perry defended the shale drilling techniques, called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” against environmentalist ideological demands the drilling be regulated and kept off federal lands.

As U.S. Energy Secretary, as he was as governor of Texas, Perry says he prefers energy innovation to draconian regulation.

Joining Perry will be hosts Congressman Mike Conaway, State Senator Charles Perry (no relation to Rick Perry), and State Representative Drew Darby.

About 30 additional state lawmakers will present or participate in panel discussions about energy and the oil and gas business. Topics to be covered include alternative energy; perspectives from the Delaware and Permian Basin; transportation via rail, pipes, roads and ports; and energy independence.

Regional business giants like Bob Malone, an oil and gas investor and CEO of Sonora Bank, will moderate a panel discussion on the Delaware and Permian Basins. Executive Vice President for Permian Operations Joey Hall of Pioneer Natural Resources will be a panelist.

Other state issues will be covered at a breakfast lightning round. State Rep Trent Ashby will talk school finance; State Rep. Four Price of Amarillo will talk about the opioid crisis in rural Texas.

Secretary Rick Perry will keynote the event over lunch on Aug. 2, from 12 to 1 p.m.

The West Texas Legislative Summit is a needed tradition in Texas politics. It is one place where issues impacting rural Texas are addressed and action items created. Rural representatives are outnumbered by their urban counterparts in 21st century Texas. This is where they come together.

The 15th Annual West Texas Legislative Summit is August 1-2. It kicks off August 1 with a dinner at the Cactus Hotel that evening. Tickets are $70. On Aug. 2, the summit will be held at the Angelo State University C.J. Davidson Conference Room inside the Houston Harte University Center. Tickets to the Aug. 2 summit are $130 each. Tickets can be purchased online on the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce website.