Chrysta Castaneda, Castaneda Law Firm
Interview and summary by Genneca Houser
Chrysta Castaneda is a well-educated woman and business owner with a unique background that couples engineering and law. What’s more is that she has extensive experience to pair with her education. Chrysta has both a degree in engineering and a law degree. She’s the founding owner of her law firm, Casteneda Law Firm. She’s run for public office recently, and she’s got a motivation to make a difference with her skills in the oil and gas industry.
We begin by discussing Chrysta’s impressive background and experience. She gives a little insight into her biggest case (Mesa Petroleum Partners LP vs. Baytech LLP ). The verdict on this 2016 case gave her national recognition as well as induction into the National Law Journals Elite Trial Lawyers of 2018 among other awards. Chrysta also talks for a moment about how she came to find a place within such a unique arena.
“It was a fascinating case, took a long time to try, very complex. But, in the end it was good to win it.” – Chrysta Casteneda
This last year, Chrysta made a run for the office of Chairman for the
Texas Railroad Commission. She did not take home a victory in November,
but there were issues brought to light during Chrysta’s campaign that
she still makes an effort to speak out about today. The main focus is on
flaring in Texas, and Chrysta has some unique ideas for what to do
about it.
“The amount of waste of the natural gas that’s produced
in the form of flaring, which is just lighting it on fire when it comes
up out of the well, is enough to power every home in Texas continuously
if we would only turn that natural gas into electricity.” Chrysta
Castaneda
We took some time to discuss what happened to cause such a disastrous power outage in Texas recently as well as gained some insight into the speculative reasons given across the varying media sources. There were many “explanations” for why the power grid failed during the cold snap, but Chrysta gave a more detailed illustration of what really went wrong.
“The power generators who rely on electricity could not get enough natural gas at the right pressures to drive their plants and generate the electricity and the natural gas producers are saying that they couldn’t produce enough natural gas and get it into the pipeline because their equipment runs on electricity… so they were mutually dependent on each other.” – Chrysta Casteneda
Another issue that Chrysta feels is really important to highlight is
the topic of venting. We spoke about venting as well as possible
repercussions a person may face if they get caught either flaring or
venting.
“There really aren’t any meaningful penalties for being
caught and furthermore there’s not enough money put into staff and
measures to actually enforce this.” – Chrysta Casteneda
At one point, Chrysta shared with us what her actions would be had
she been elected to the Texas Railroad Commission. She also shared what
actions she’s taken to continue highlighting the issues and push to
bring change. As a bonus, Chrysta mentions one of her published works, a
book called The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens.
“I’ve been doing a lot of advocacy work. I’ve been doing a
lot of tv and radio and podcasts and written opinions on, in
particular, the grid failure and how our policies contributed to the
lack of energy reliability here in Texas.” – Chrysta Castaneda
The topic transitions to some speculation about what we may see coming as far as movement in the industry. There’s discussion on the push by investors to encourage environmentally responsible practices and where we may see this transition in the oil and gas industry take us. Conversation even touched on the 21 state lawsuit against President Joe Biden regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline.
“I believe in the power of change and in the power of the
people in the industry to find creative solutions to the problems that
face us including the problem of producing oil and gas responsibly and
limiting carbon footprint… I also believe in the power of the industry
to adapt to new forms of energy.” – Chrysta Castaneda
Finally, we briefly talked about what possible detriment could come from pulling away from the oil and gas industry. Definitely listen in to the final segment of this conversation to hear Chrysta’s biggest concern when it comes to transitioning away from oil and gas.
For more information, check out these links:
Castañeda Firm Victory Ranked Among Top Texas Verdicts of 2016
National Law Journal Names Chrysta Castañeda to 2018 Elite Trial Lawyers List
Chrysta Castaneda Campaign Website
Sponsors, Music and Other Show Notes
Studio Sponsor: The Industrial Forest
The Industrial Forest is a network of environmentally minded and socially conscious businesses that are using industrial innovations to build a network of sustainable forests across the United States.
Weekly Sponsor: Great American Mining Co.
Great American Mining monetizes wasted, stranded and undervalued gas throughout the oil and gas industry by using it as a power generation source for bitcoin mining.
They bring the market and our expertise to the molecule. Their solutions make producers more efficient and profitable while helping to reduce flaring and venting throughout the oil and gas value chain.
Weekly Sponsor: Black Water Environmental
Black Water Environmental is a family-owned company with over 10 years of on-site industrial experience. Offering Inspections, Consulting, Coating Failure Analysis, Specification Writing, and Coating Application services, and many other services for Energy, Oil, Gas, and Municipal.
BWE was started in Moorcroft, Wyoming but has grown to a larger facilities to Gillette, Wyoming, where they can provide a better quality of service for their customers. What make BWE stand out from other company’s is their ability to provide the best materials and service possible in industry and that has given BWE the ability to building excellent relationships with customers and employees.
Phone Line Sponsor: Swan Energy, Inc. 866.539.0860
Studio Email and Inbox Sponsor: To Be Announced
Featured Music: Moody River Band
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