(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on Thursday visited with oil and natural gas producers in Midland, Texas, to highlight the Trump administration’s plan to “unleash American energy.”

Zeldin is traveling nationwide to highlight EPA deregulatory efforts in individual states. It was the first time an EPA administrator had ever been to Midland, the center of oil and natural gas production in Texas.

Texas leads the U.S. in oil and natural gas production and emissions reductions, breaking records in recent years, The Center Square reported.

The visit also came at a time of uncertainty for the industry as Texas producers, operatives and business owners have expressed serious concerns about Trump administration trade policies they argue are driving up costs and causing the price of oil to crash, The Center Square reported.

Zeldin highlighted an initiative he launched last month: what he says is the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. Zeldin announced 31 actions the EPA was taking to fulfill Trump’s pledge “to unleash American energy, lower cost of living for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to states to make their own decisions.”

The EPA’s deregulatory efforts will roll back trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and hidden “taxes” on U.S. families, he said when announcing the 31 initiatives. “We’re unleashing energy dominance and putting more power in the hands of the states,” he said. The EPA’s deregulatory effort is about “applying common sense, unleashing energy dominance, and empowering states to do more.”

The Texas energy industry not only drives the state’s economy but also defines Texas, Cruz said; “It’s who we are. I spend a lot of time out here in Midland-Odessa because I love the people of West TX and I think the entrepreneurial spirit here is unlike any place on earth.”

Many at the roundtable expressed frustration over federal regulatory burdens they argue stifle investment, including extensive permitting delays.

Their concerns were similar to those expressed by longtime industry executive and Houston-based Richard Welch and Texas-based oil and natural gas trade associations, who have called on the Trump administration and Congress to implement permitting reforms and eliminate duplicative federal oversight, enabling states to play the primary regulatory role, The Center Square reported.

Of the 31 actions the EPA is taking, many directly impact the U.S. oil and natural gas industry, including regulations like a mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program the Biden administration implemented in the Clean Air Act that “imposed significant costs on the American energy supply;” wastewater regulations for oil and gas development; a Biden-Harris Risk Management Program rule that made U.S. oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities “less safe;” and revising a Biden-Harris “social cost of carbon” measurement that was used to advance their climate agenda, according to the EPA’s deregulation list.

Trump EPA deregulatory efforts will reduce “the cost of living for American families,” making it “more affordable to purchase a car, heat homes, and operate a business,” Zeldin argues.

Deregulatory efforts “will be more affordable to bring manufacturing into local communities while individuals widely benefit from the tangible economic impacts,” reversing Biden and Obama era regulations that “suffocated nearly every single sector of the American economy,” he said.

(The Center Square) — A shooting on Thursday on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee left two dead and five wounded, local officials say.

Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil said at a news conference that 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, the son of one of his deputies, was the alleged shooter and used one of his mother’s service weapons in the shooting. Law enforcement shot Ikner and he is hospitalized.

“We understand that you all have been devastated because of this person’s actions,” McNeil said. 

Florida State President Richard McCullough said it was a tragic day for the university and that “we’re absolutely heartbroken by the violence.”

He said Deputy Jessica Ikner, an 18-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, had provided the community with exceptional service, but that her son had access to one of her weapons, a handgun that was found at the scene. He also said investigators would probe how the weapon was used and how he got access to it. A shotgun was found at the student union building. 

The shooting began on Florida State’s campus at the student union building about noon and the university said on social media about 3:30 p.m. Eastern time that the threat had been neutralized, but advised students to stay away from campus since it is an active crime scene. 

(The Center Square) – Restrictions on K-12 students’ use of cellphones is in the Senate’s state budget proposal and in legislation originating in the state House of Representatives that has reached the Senate’s rules committee.

The outcome of negotiations for a budget between the Senate, House of Representatives and Gov. Josh Stein will determine what language, if any, comes forward and from where. The House has yet to release its two-year spending proposal.

And the cellphones in schools issue, if the House vote is an indicator, is agreed upon in General Assembly chambers holding significant Republican majorities.

The Center Square was unsuccessful getting response this week from House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, and Senate Rules Committee Chairman Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick. Cell-Phone Free Education, known also as House Bill 87, passed the House 114-3 a day prior to going into the Senate Rules Committee.

The one-page House legislation says in part, “At the beginning of each school year, governing bodies of public school units shall notify parents of all students enrolled in the public school unit of the Cell Phone-Free Education Policy adopted under subsection (a) of this section.”

That subsection says, “Governing bodies of public school units shall adopt a cell phone-free education policy to eliminate or severely restrict student access to cell phones during instructional time.”

In the public instruction section of the Senate budget proposal, the language in part says governing bodies shall establish wireless communication policy, and sans exceptions, shall “prohibit students from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time.”

Exceptions include teachers’ instructing use; as required by a student’s individualized education program; or to manage a student’s health care per documented medical conditions.