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<\/a><\/p>\nANSWER: We could go on for a long time. We\u2019ve been an integral part of fighting against the cartels and human trafficking. We\u2019ve been a major funder for education and helping people with their property taxes. We\u2019ve helped small businesses. We\u2019ve helped Texans recover from disaster. We roll up our sleeves, and we positively impact Texans\u2019 lives, and they didn\u2019t even know that we existed. So, it\u2019s fun running around the state and talking about all of that, but really more just delivering for Texans.<\/p>\n
Q: The General Land Office kind of has a lot of different hats. How would you describe it to someone that probably doesn\u2019t know what that office does?<\/p>\n
A: We are the largest mineral owner in the state, 13 million acres, which puts us in a really unique position to stand up for individual property owner rights and defend oil and gas and the Texas economy. We fund education, K through 12, and then also through the Permanent University Fund \u2014 I chair their Board for Lease. We love the fact that, for example, on the coast, we\u2019re starting the largest beach renourishment project, putting sand back on our beaches, protecting those homes. We\u2019re working on the safety of the coast, health of our bays and being sure that our fishing stays wonderful. Our veterans, we serve them in so many ways. I think the most important thing we\u2019re doing is being sure that the Alamo stands for another 500 years to tell our loud and proud Texas history.<\/p>\n
Q: If reelected, what are key points or projects you\u2019d like to accomplish?<\/p>\n
A: We\u2019re going to keep delivering for Texas. We have brought new revenue streams into the state. We\u2019re about to bust China\u2019s monopoly on rare earth minerals, bringing billions of dollars to public education.We\u2019re also looking at new ways to be helpful. Produced water, water that comes up with oil and gas, is dirty and doesn\u2019t have a ton of use, but we\u2019re working to get it to agricultural levels for the same price as reinjection. We might be delivering millions of barrels of fresh, clean water a day to Texas, which will be transformational. We\u2019re going to continue to steward the land and the coast, and we\u2019re going to continue to serve our veterans in new and unique ways.<\/p>\n
Q: Texas has had a lot of controversy surrounding data centers and some opposing views within the Republican Party. What are your views on data centers?<\/p>\n
A: I think there are legitimate concerns about water and electricity and occupying productive land, and until those concerns are met, we shouldn\u2019t build more data centers.<\/p>\n
Q: Northeast Texans have been concerned for decades with the possible construction of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir in this region, and eminent domain could be used to take the private property for construction. What are your views on that?<\/p>\n
A: I\u2019m not a big fan of eminent domain. So, I\u2019m a country girl by how I was raised, a farming and ranching family, and sometimes eminent domain has to be taken, but you want the property owners treated fairly. Inter-basin transfer of water is a highly contentious issue, to say the least. But we really hope some of the transformational projects that we\u2019re doing with produced water \u2014 we might be delivering millions of barrels a day to Texas of good, clean water, and if we can do that, and we can support desalination efforts and some other things, maybe we can solve these problems without people\u2019s land having to be taken.<\/p>\n
Q: Border wall construction has paused at Big Bend National Park. What are your thoughts on everything that\u2019s happening?<\/p>\n
A: We think there are a lot of places where a virtual (border) wall makes more sense than a physical wall. In our history, we have purchased property to build the wall on in the past. We have declared islands in the Rio Grande as Texas land, taking them away from cartel safe havens. So, we are very strong on border security, but we feel like in a lot of places, especially in Big Bend where you\u2019ve got 1,000-foot cliffs, a virtual wall makes more sense than a physical wall.<\/p>\n
Q: What does a virtual wall entail?<\/p>\n
A: Virtual walls can actually detect people from miles that are coming across the border. We need to do vegetation control where the people crossing illegally hide. And then we need to have road access so when they do come across, we can go and grab them.<\/p>\n
Q: Let\u2019s talk about the Alamo. How is the restoration going, and why is caring for this place special to you?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A: What we are really doing at the Alamo is making a visit to the site worthy of the significance of the events that happened there for the very first time. So, it\u2019s a $550 million project. We are building a 160,000-square-foot museum that is really going to tell the story of our history. To understand the story of the battle, you have to understand why Native Americans settled there initially. You have to understand who built the missions, because the Alamo was a mission before it was a fort. And then you have to understand the events leading up to the battle, and then that last gallery in the museum is going to talk about how the Alamo continues to affect pop culture. In the middle of that museum is going to be a 4D theater. It\u2019s going to be phenomenal. But when you\u2019re sitting in that seat, you\u2019re going to have an entire view like you\u2019re standing in the center of the fort, and you\u2019re going to feel those cannonballs hit, and you\u2019re going to smell that gun smoke and fire, and you\u2019re going to really be able to immerse in our story in the battle unlike any other time.<\/p>\n
But the big thing is the Alamo\u2019s roof needs to be changed. It\u2019s past its useful life. It\u2019s causing active damage to the building. The walls have been wicking saltwater up out of the ground. Saltwater and limestone don\u2019t go too well together, so we have some structural integrity issues. So, to be sure that our beloved Alamo stands for another 500 years, we need to fix those wall integrity issues and we need to get a new roof on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And that should be done in the next couple of years. Whenever you\u2019re dealing with a 300-year-old building, it\u2019s really important to do it right, not fast. And so, we\u2019re going to take the time that it needs to get it done right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: Could you give an update on the East Texas State Veterans Cemetery near Hallsville?<\/p>\n
A: We\u2019re going through the final legal hoops to get the land donated. We\u2019ve asked for the federal Veterans Affairs for over $20 million to build the cemetery. It\u2019s going to be on over 6 acres, I believe, and there\u2019s an adjacent property owner who might toss in a few other acres, which might be amazing.<\/p>\n
We know that East Texas is very strong in military service, and we want to serve those veterans who aren\u2019t currently being served by a cemetery. Our cemeteries are gorgeous. They are really special places, and we do some really special things with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: How many veterans will it serve approximately?<\/p>\n
A: Over 60 acres, it\u2019s going to have a columbarium, and it\u2019s going to have burial plots. It is going to be thousands and thousands of veterans that it will serve.<\/p>\n
Q: Is there a specific timeline of when construction\u2019s going to begin?<\/p>\n
A: Not really. So, first, there\u2019s certain hoops that the land donation has to go through. They\u2019re clearing up some title issues. I think it\u2019s a family property that there\u2019s several title owners to it, so they\u2019re working on that. Once that and the environmental report is completed, then we get in line with the federal VA for the money to actually build the cemetery. It\u2019s a cooperation between the federal VA and the state. So, we\u2019ll get it done as soon as we can get it done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARSHALL \u2013 Texas General Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said she wants to continue protecting the state\u2019s natural resources…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-411783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}