Back in Texas, Rick Perry warns of gnarly oil and gas regulation

DALLAS -- Dressed in a dark jacket and collarless shirt and talking at times like an evangelical preacher, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry had a simple message at an energy conference Friday: Innovate, don’t regulate.

Perry was the keynote speaker at the first Responsible Shale Energy Extraction conference at Fair Park, where energy industry executives, scientists and journalists came together to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of getting oil and natural gas from shale, a process perfected in the Barnett Shale in North Texas.

Perry, who served as Texas governor for 14 years, bragged about how the Lone Star State experienced a population explosion — adding about 4.5 million people during those years — while watching pollution decline and alternative forms of energy like wind energy bloom because government didn’t stand in the way.

“They came here because they knew they would be free from over-taxation, over-litigation and over-regulation,” Perry said. “There was some thoughtful engagement about regulation. ... We regulate in the state of Texas, but I hope that we did it in a thoughtful way.”

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article146080579.html