The Moral Compass of Texas | Special Episode

Yalla & Yap and Eddie Espinoza, the Green Party candidate for TX railroad commissioner, met at Arwa Yemeni coffee shop for a meet and greet pop-up event. Hot topics were the war on Gaza and climate change and how your vote matters!

https://arwayemenicoffee.com
https://www.espinoza4tx.com/

Transcript

**this is an auto-generated transcript** 

ahlan wasahlan, and welcome to a special segment of Yalla and Yap, our second recording, and already we have a pretty cool story to share. So, last week tonight, on Friday, Diana made our logos.

There's a lot of drama behind the logos, but we'll get into that later. On Saturday, Manal made our shirts. And on Sunday, I went to the picnic and wore the shirt with our logo. People asked me, oh wow, cool, you guys have a podcast. And I said yes, listen to our episode, we're going to record it tonight. So we recorded our first episodes.

It took a couple of days, we finally got to release it, and on Friday we released our very first episodes.  The next day we got a dad who came to my picnic on Sunday telling me that he works for the Green Party here in Dallas and that he would love to arrange for an interview for a candidate running for Texas Railroad Commissioner.

His name is Eddie Espinoza and immediately I was like, Oh my God, that is such a cool, quick, serendipity situation. And I took a screenshot of that conversation and I sent it to the team of Yolan Yap. And I was like, guys, we need to do this. We only had two days cause he was only in town for the next two days.

He lives in McAllen. And so we had to move real quick.

 So who is Eddie Espinoza?  We know that he's running for Texas Railroad Commissioner At age 19, he enlisted in the U. S. Army and he served in Desert Storm. His passion was teaching. So he actually taught for 26 years. He was passionate about teaching reading and math. And that's actually what led him to want to serve in public office.

So that's when he became passionate about the environment and about leading younger people.

So we actually had the honor of interviewing him in person.  At Ottawa in Frisco. There's also an Ottawa in Richardson. If you're in the Dallas area, be sure to check it out. It's really great. Yemeni tea. 

We were able to sit down and have a conversation with Eddie and we'd like to share that with you guys.

Hey everyone, we're here with Eddie he is running for Railroad Commissioner in Texas.

 first, how did this position get coined as the railroad commissioner? Second, does it currently, to date, actually do anything with the railroads? No, it has nothing, it has nothing to do with railroads.

And I think what happened is, back in like the 1900s, they used to move, I guess, oil and, and other chemicals via railroad. And the name kind of stuck and then the fossil fuel industry doesn't want us to truly know what they're in charge of. So they kind of preserve the name. But one of the first things we'll do is change it to the Texas Energy Commission.

I would be overseeing the renewable energy and energy conservation because there's a lot of simple things we can do like going to a four day. Work week with no loss in pay that will decrease our energy demand. So it'll be a it'll be a a holistic approach to solving the problems of you know, the contamination in texas and decarbonizing the texas economy Awesome.

so I wanted to ask, we have listeners who are not based in Texas. What would you tell them

 Don't listen to the Democrats voting for the Green Party is not a throwaway vote. If you vote for the Green Party, you will be helping Dr. Stein get that 5 percent threshold. And if she reaches the 5 percent threshold, then the Green Party will have a very good shot at taking the White House in 2028.

So we want to help the, create a third party  for everyday citizens, you know, for the common folk, for the people that don't have a voice. We want to help. Develop a healthy third party and  by pushing our policies, we think that the Democrats and the Republicans will start moving towards our direction.

Because the Green Party is not going to Negotiate when it comes to taking care of the planet. And we're not going to negotiate on continuing the genocide in Gaza. 

Right now, Texas Muslims and Texas Greens are the moral compass of Texas right now. And if it's not for us, the genocide in Palestine is not talked about. Now we're waiting for the Mexican American community to wake up. We're waiting for the white Texan community to wake up and the black community Texan community to wake up because we know that this is not who we are.

We are not genocide enablers. We do not agree with dropping 2000 pound bombs on civilians. That's not who we are. Now, maybe the leadership at the top is, but most Texans are not. And I just wanted to stress that point that, you know, the, again, the Texas Muslims and the Texas greens are the moral compass of Texas right now.

Building off of what you were talking about the genocide, uh, the Guardian reported in January that the first months and when they were referring to the first months, I think they were calculating the first couple of months of conflict from Israel's war on Gaza produced more planet 20 climate vulnerable nations do in a year.

How would your role in Texas? Or how would us helping you, um, uh, get, you know, win this seat, be helpful to ending the genocide? 

We need to act the way God would expect us to act. And I hate to bring religion and spirituality into this, but it's, it's the truth. You know, how would God expect us to go out? He certainly wouldn't want us participating in the genocide in Palestine.

And he certainly wouldn't want us providing arms in Ukraine so that the Russians and the Ukrainians can go at it. No, he would expect us to unite. Make the right policy decisions and, you know, prepare for what's coming our way, which is  a climate change challenge that is going to affect everyone.

And I want to emphasize this point. It doesn't matter where you live or how much money you have. Everyone will be impacted by global warming. 

By capturing this seat, we would have a representative of the people. And then we would be able to go to the media and say to them, look, uh, Austinites, we're all in a lot of trouble here.

And we need to apply pressure on Washington, D. C. to bring this nonsense of this genocide in Palestine and the bombing of Lebanon and the bombing of Iran. That nonsense has to stop. And Dr. Stein and Professor were the ones to do it. Uh, now We're going to need a new team of diplomats to hammer out a solution to this problem because we cannot go down the path of war and war.

It's not good for the American economy. It's not good for the health of the planet and it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

I keep hearing something about 2 percent and 5%. Can you please expand on that a little bit? 

So the Democrats and the Republicans will argue like, hey, if you vote for the Green Party, you're throwing away your vote. That's not the case. Here in Texas, if we get 2 percent of the state vote, the Green Party of Texas will be guaranteed ballot access here in Texas for the next ten years, and they won't be able to sue us off for anything. Now at the national level, if Dr. Stein and Professor Ware can get 5 percent of the national vote , the Green Party will be guaranteed ballot access in all 50 states, and also they will have 10 million coming to the Green Party for the presidential race in 2028.

So really, Texas, California, New York, and Florida, they're lost. Here in Texas, the Republicans are going to win, and there's nothing the Democrats can do about it. In California, the Democrats are going to win. New York, Democrats. So why not try something different? Vote the Green Party, and help them win. Dr.

Stein and Professor Wirt get the 5%. That way in 2028, the Green Party is only worried about getting votes and we don't have to worry about, lawyers coming in and suing us off the ballot. That won't happen if we can get 5 percent of the national vote, which I think is very doable. 

And that's awesome because we've actually spoken about that on our previous episode where we spoke as Texans. I think we have an obligation to go ahead and vote Green Party because it can be in a way breaking that two party system in the future.   Either way, we know where Texas is going to eventually land and as a Republican state, so you were mentioning how your Republican,  counterpart has 10 million and you were mentioning how you, um, funding wise, you guys are not nearly as close so what keeps you motivated? What gets you going out, going from city to city, um, taking time from your life and family in order to get this done? 

Well, my, my, myself, my family and my descendants, we've all benefited from a healthy planet, from a planet that, you know, uh, the, with healthy ecosystems and, and healthy freshwater sources.

So I want to preserve that. What we had for younger generations and the kids growing up right now in Texas, because if we continue on this path, they will be inheriting a Venus type atmosphere here on planet Earth, and we need to stop that. It's time to get off of the fossil fuels, listen to the climate scientists, and listen to the experts, and let's start doing the right thing. 

Eddie, can you tell me about the top fossil fuel contributors and who they are and how do you plan to hold them accountable? 

Well, the big ones are like Exxon, Shell, Halliburton, these massive corporations that have a lot of income from, selling oil and gas. But we want to tell the fossil fuel industry that we're not out to get you.

Like we're going to need you because cleaning up the Texas environment is going to take decades, so there's going to be plenty of work for everybody. Now we want them to focus on plugging and cleaning and decommissioning. Uh, oil and gas fuels that are contaminating Texas soil, water, and air. And we also want them to help us with decarbonizing the Texas economy.

So the oil industry in Texas is going to be around for at least another two decades. And then once they clean up the mess that, you know, they caused, but it's our problem too because we're, we're the consumer, then we want them to help us decarbonize the Texas economy because they're not fossil fuel corporations.

They're. energy corporations and we want them to focus on that. But we need to let them know that the, uh, the fossil fuel addiction party is coming to an end. It has to, and it's going to benefit the corporations and also the families that run those corporations. So we want to stress that point that, Hey, we're not here to get anybody.

We're here to solve problems and leave the planet earth a healthier place for future generations to come. 

So based off of what you were saying, I'm wondering, what is your strategy to win and what are we up against?  

It's an uphill battle. And like I was mentioning to you earlier,, if you combine the Libertarian candidate Hawk Dunlap, the Democratic candidate Catherine Colbert, and my votes, you combine all three votes and we still wouldn't be able to beat  Kristi Craddick, the incumbent.

 Because of the fossil fuel industries control of the railroad commission, whatever projects they want and whatever they want to do, the three Republican commissioners rubber stamp the projects.

So you'll go to a railroad commission meeting and they're just, Approving project after project after project. And here's a quick example of, you know, how greed has kind of taken over the commission. And I don't mean this in a negative way, I'm just reporting the facts.  The Texas Railroad Commission has allowed New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana to dump their toxic wastewater from oil and gas extraction into Texas.

Now she's been on the commission for 12 years. She has 10 million to spend. And if we reelect her, that's going to give her another six years, and that would give her a total of 18 years now. Because we're a third party, we're not getting any media coverage. So what we're doing is we're going directly to the people by texting phone banking, tabling, and doing everything we can to get the word out that regardless of who you vote for if you're a Texan. In this election, your freshwater sources are in danger.

 In West Texas, there has been so much contamination that all this toxic water, they call it produced water, but it's really toxic water. It's salt and benzene and other dangerous chemicals. They've dumped so much into West Texas that it has nowhere to go but up. So you have the case of Beamer Lake it's a 60 acre lake that has been growing. And it's been leaking hydrogen sulfide for the past 10 years. So we need to attack that problem head on because the longer we wait to fix these problems, the more complicated and the more expensive  these cleanup jobs are going to become

So right now is the time to clean up our act and inspire the world to do the same. 



So you've been campaigning around Texas. What has been the reception in this past election?   Uh, we are saying some, I guess what some would consider controversial, but it's really common sense, but we have had no pushback whatsoever from any Texan.

So I, I think Texas is ready for a change. And, everyone has been wonderful. They've been receptive to what we're saying, what we're promoting to our vision. And they support our policy. I mean, who doesn't want a 40, you know, a 40 work week and a three day weekend that, you know, where people can, can spend time with their families and decrease the stress levels in society.

But everyone's been very, very receptive to what we're saying and there's been very little blowback from anyone.

Are you noticing a dissatisfaction from the two parties, the two major parties and what's been the reaction from the democratic leadership?

The, the democratic leadership, they just won't mention anything. So we know that they have a lot of control over the news corporation. So we are having a hard time with that, but we're trying to do tick talk and social media, word of mouth, texting to get the word out like, Hey, there's a new party in Texas, the green party of Texas, and we're not going anywhere.

And the movement is growing. And, uh, you know, we started maybe in the hundreds and now we're definitely up to the thousands. I don't know how much, but we know that it's growing. And we know that the Democrats are concerned because they kind of, uh, they don't want any media attention given to us because they, if the media talks to us, you know, we're going to tie them to their bad policy and there's no way to hide from your bad policy.

Are you seeing a generational shift between the millennial generation and the Gen Z generation? To be honest with you, all Texans of all ages are ready for change with the exception of the people on the top that are making the decisions. But I think they understand to that, you know, the old Texans, the old oil and gas money.

I think they understand to that it's time to make that transition. 

So I wanted to ask, how is affordable, sustainable, 100 percent renewable energy produced? And is it scalable to deliver clean energy to all Texans?

Yes, it is. The technology is already here to do what we need to do. And Texas is already a major. producer of renewable energy. There's a lot of solar that has come online in Texas, a lot of wind and the, uh, the pleasant surprise are the utility scale batteries. So these three, uh, and also energy conservation, Texas can easily decarbonize its economy.

It's not like it's, we're in India where there's a billion people. No, Texas, we're about 30 million. So we can, this is very, very doable. The only thing is that we need new leadership. With new vision and new policies. And one thing I felt to mention is we also need to pass public service announcements that every Texan needs to be more mindful the way they spend their energy. So that means, you know, if you have your thermostat set at 70 degrees, Come on, let's pick it up to 76 degrees so that you can lessen the load on our grid. 

And are there any incentives right now for Texans for using anything like solar panels? Yeah, I think right now it's still, it's still controlled by, uh, utility companies.

And these utility companies are a bit reluctant to offer incentives. But yeah, with the right policy, you know, we can incentivize, uh, Uh, solar panels the way, uh, the federal government is doing where the federal government will pay one third of your solar panels cost. And, uh, that's an excellent policy right there. 



So,  once you get into this, office, how do you plan to proceed, how do you plan to effect change? 

First of all, we're going to push for a name change. And we want to change the name to Texas Energy Commission. Another thing, there's a group based out of Laredo, Texas that studies the Railroad Commission and has reforms ready to go.

So what we're going to do is we're going to connect Commission Shift and their ideas and their reforms and implement it with the Railroad Commission. Another one, I want to work with the Libertarian candidate, Hawk Dunlap, because he is an expert at plugging, , and cleaning and decommissioning. A troublesome oil and gas wells.

 So we want to put him in charge of the abandoned oil and gas. Section of the railroad commission and then, uh, our democratic opponent, uh, Catherine Colbert. She's good at, uh, pipeline safety. So we want her to work with drones and satellites and automate the process of keeping an eye on these, uh, pipelines while we, uh, transition off of them.

And we also want her in charge of worker safety because they're dealing with dangerous chemicals and we want to make sure that our fossil fuel workers are well taken care of. And then There is a, a Democrat who we, we believe should have won the Democratic nomination, Bill Birch. Now, Bill Birch is an expert at dealing with, uh, toxic wastewater.

So, we want to entrust him and someone in the federal government to oversee what we do with all the wastewater that Texas is dealing with because it's an enormous amount of wastewater that we're dealing with. But we want to put people where they belong. And we want to, we want them to work to their strengths because this job is big enough for at least five, five other commissioners. But, uh, yeah, we want to work with all, all innovators and all problem solvers. And that's what the Green Party is about, solving problems. We're not out to get anybody.

We're out to solve problems. 

That's awesome. That's amazing to hear. 

 Thank you so much for your time. Uh, we obviously encourage everyone to go out and vote and, uh, we wish you guys the best of luck in your election. And thank you very much for having me and it was a very enjoyable experience talking to everyone. And we, I hope we can run it back in the future. Yes. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you.

If you'd like to know more about Eddie Espinoza or donate to his campaign, his website is www. espinoza4texas. com. That's the number 4 and the letter TX. com. You can also follow Eddie on Instagram and Twitter.