I will continue to do everything within my power to keep Texas free and prosperous for us all!
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – This has been a year of rousing success for the Texas General Land Office (GLO). I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished in 2024, and I wanted to take a moment to provide you this year in review.
FUNDING PUBLIC EDUCATION
I signed an agreement with ExxonMobil to lease over 271,000 acres of offshore submerged state land for Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) transportation and storage. This is the largest such lease in the United States.
This CCS and the six others that were awarded last year are estimated to produce $10 billion over the next 30 years! Together, these leases cover approximately half a million acres in state-owned waters along the coast.
Not only does this help ensure Texas continues to lead the nation in energy production, it allows me to utilize state land to benefit Texas students.
The agreement with Exxon will provide millions of dollars in funding to Texas public school children through the Permanent School Fund (PSF).
According to the Texas PSF Corporation, the PSF is set to distribute record-high funding to public education for the 2026-27 biennium – to the tune of an astonishing $4.8 billion.
STATE LAND MANAGEMENT
I remain dedicated to stewarding Texas’s precious, energy-rich state land in service of my top priority: the well-being of Texans and their families.
The GLO deposited more than $1.4 billion in oil and natural gas revenues last fiscal year into the PSF to support public education throughout the state.
I threw down challenges to the Biden-Harris Administration when questionable federal actions threatened to affect Texas's land and prosperity.
The State of Texas and 15 other plaintiff states filed suit against the Biden Energy Department's freeze on new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports that would jeopardize revenue for the PSF.
I also enlisted the Attorney General's help in suing the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over strict guidelines that sought to eliminate nearly all the United States natural gas and coal-fired power plant carbon emissions over the next two decades.
I will always defend the oil and gas industry, which supports more than 2.5 million jobs statewide and provides billions of dollars in education funding to Texas school children.
When the Biden-Harris Administration's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) attempted to classify the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard (DSL) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, I pursued legal action to protect the oil and gas industry from the fallout of this disastrous proposal. This battle is still ongoing.
In November, I worked with the GLO's surveying team to redraw a portion of the Texas-Oklahoma boundary under Lake Texoma to ensure the security and availability of around 30% of the drinking water supply for more than 2 million people in that area.
This year, the GLO started exploring produced water treatment projects to continue supporting Texas energy independence. Produced water is water extracted from the ground during oil and gas production. After being treated, it can be reused for various purposes in oil and gas operations, irrigation, and power generation.
I will continue investigating the possible benefits of using produced water and other avenues to encourage energy independence.
RESTORING THE ALAMO
Restoration work on the Alamo Cenotaph will begin in January 2025 to keep it fortified and standing tall for generations to come. It will stay right where it is, both while it's being restored and when the restoration is complete!
Coming soon is the Alamo Visitor Center and Museum in San Antonio, Texas, a world-class facility that will be dedicated to preserving the Alamo's 300-year history and spotlighting the core of Texas's cultural identity.
I am excited to unveil the Texas Cavaliers Alamo Education Center to the public in Fall 2025. Our hope is that the project will redefine hands-on learning by merging historical preservation with contemporary educational requirements.
The famous Alamo Church renovations will begin in Spring 2025!
HONORING OUR VETERANS
I was honored this year to celebrate the 78th anniversary of the Texas Veterans Land Board (VLB) and its service to veterans, military members, and their families.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the VLB helped these men and women and their families secure loans that allowed them to own their own land, purchase their first homes, and adapt their homes to their specific needs.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- 1,015 home loans closed, totaling $396,933,264.87
- 931 land loans closed, totaling $101,052,242.70
- 108 home improvement loans closed, totaling $2,473,804.31.
The VLB has been working hard to complete and open the new Tuskegee Airmen Texas State Veterans Home in Fort Worth, our tenth long-term care home for veterans. This 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility is expected to open in 2025 and will serve 120 veterans, spouses, and Gold Star parents.
After breaking ground in November 2023, the West Texas Veterans Cemetery in Lubbock is on schedule to be completed in Fall 2025.
Texas State Veterans Cemeteries received a customer satisfaction score of over 99% for the second year in a row in 2024!
SECURING THE BORDER
This fall, I acquired a 1,402-acre ranch in Starr County, Texas, and signed an easement with the Texas Facilities Commissioner (TFC) to construct a 1.5-mile border wall!
I then offered the incoming Trump Administration this land for the construction of facilities and staging areas to conduct deportations.
Through the GLO, I also launched “The Jocelyn Initiative,” named in honor of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houston girl who was killed by criminal illegal immigrants.
This initiative extends my initial offer of 1,402 acres of state land to the incoming Trump Administration to include additional state-owned land elsewhere in Texas for the critical task of deporting violent, criminal illegal immigrants from our country.
Earlier in the year, GLO was proud to celebrate the success of our efforts to put a stop to the cartel activity on Fronton Island, a 170-acre GLO property.
The island used to be a hot spot for cartels to push guns, ammunition, drugs, bombs, and human trafficking victims unobstructed through our southern border.
But Operation Flat Top, carried out by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Military Department (TMD), leveled the island and cleared it of all vegetation, making it virtually impossible for cartel members to use this property to evade law enforcement.
Since the beginning of the operation, there has been a 100% decrease in cartel activity. To keep it that way, I signed a Right of Entry Agreement with DPS that allows law enforcement to operate and maintain temporary fencing along the Rio Grande on GLO’s property.
PROTECTING TEXAS'S COAST
This summer, I was proud to reintroduce the GLO's 2024 Texas Coastal Roundup. The education and outreach event attracted over 1,500 attendees and offered them a unique opportunity to learn firsthand how various groups protect Texas's beautiful coastline.
I also traveled to Galveston Beach to take part in the 2024 Adopt-A-Beach Coastwide Cleanups in the Spring and Fall. Between the two annual events, over 12,500 volunteers participated to help keep Texas beaches beautiful by removing 122,687 pounds of trash from the coast.
I was also proud to direct the GLO's Coastal Management Program to purchase mobility mats and beach wheelchairs for local governments that needed this equipment. These mobility aids help make Texas beaches easier and more accessible for all Texans to enjoy.
This year, we advanced the Coastal Texas Project’s Coastwide Ecosystem Restoration measures and the Coastal Storm Risk Management measure on South Padre Island. The GLO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for design work on these projects crucial to securing this coastal region’s resiliency to natural disasters.
After Tropical Storm Alberto and Hurricane Beryl damaged the coastline in Nueces, Matagorda, Brazoria, and Galveston counties, the GLO adopted emergency rules that allowed local governments to expedite permits for property owners repairing and rebuilding protective dunes. This effort helped ensure communities could make beaches more structurally sound and minimize and prevent further damage to property.
The GLO's Coastal Resources Division has completed the largest beach nourishment project in Texas this year: the McFaddin Beach Nourishment and Dune Restoration Project Phase II, which encompasses 14.5 miles of restored dunes and beaches.
This project benefits the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, home to the Salt Bayou ecosystem, the largest contiguous estuarine marsh complex in Texas at 139,000 acres. Erosion is causing saltwater intrusion, transforming marsh into open water and loss of wetland habitats. Our restoration efforts hope to combat that.
After a barge collided with the Pelican Island Bridge, I deployed the GLO Oil Spill Division to Galveston Island. Working around the clock as the state on-scene coordinator, the division provided much-needed assistance and expertise in clean-up efforts while ensuring our wildlife and their unique ecosystems remained safe and strong.
DISASTER RECOVERY AND MITIGATION
This summer, the GLO completed the Homeowner Assistance Program in Southeast Texas, helping more than 1,200 families regain a safe and secure place to call home after they were displaced by Hurricane Harvey. We worked closely with local governments, builders, and community organizations to ensure eligible homeowners received help.
We have made incredible strides in delivering critical disaster mitigation and recovery funding to rebuild and protect homes, businesses, and communities in disaster-impacted Texas regions.
The GLO has deployed more than $8.6 billion in funding for disaster recovery and mitigation!
In brief, we have:
- Approved more than $2.6 billion for mitigation projects to improve flood control and other protective infrastructure to keep Texans safe.
- Rebuilt more than 9,200 homes for Texas families.
- Directed nearly $1.2 billion to construct 137 rental developments to provide 12,581 affordable homes for Texas renters.
- Reimbursed 3,907 homeowners for more than $126 million for disaster-related home repairs.
- Helped 570 small, local businesses with more than $89 million to create or retain 1,780 jobs for Texans through our economic revitalization program, Texas Back in Business.
The GLO has had an accomplished year of supporting public education, stewarding state land, coordinating the restoration of the Alamo, honoring our veterans, securing the border, protecting Texas's coast, and facilitating disaster recovery and mitigation.
I look forward to another year of great progress in our beautiful state. I will continue to do everything within my power to keep Texas free and prosperous for us all!
