Jon Mark Hogg, candidate for U. S. Congress in TX-11, visited with voters in De Leon, on Saturday, October 3. District TX-11 covers 29 counties, including parts of Erath County.
The discussion began with school choice. “We have school choice,” said Hogg, because parents have always had the choice of sending their children to other public schools within a district, or to public schools in other districts. Hogg believes it’s a bad idea to involve government in supporting for-profit education companies. He reminded voters that voucher programs take tax money away from public schools.
Hogg said that Texans should not have to choose between supporting the oil and gas industry, and supporting the development of renewable energies and protecting the environment. “It is a false choice,” he said. “We need diversification in energy just like we need diversification in the economy.” Texas is an energy hub for this country, thanks to oil and gas. “Why not also be a hub with wind and solar power?” he asked.
Hogg told about his involvement in an issue of concern to all Texans. A company called Waste Control Services (WCS) applied for a permit temporarily to store highlyradioactive, spent fuel rods in Andrews County. The county is in the western reaches of TX-11, bordering on New Mexico. Hogg said that unfortunately, no plan for permanent storage for the fuel rods is in the works. The rods stay dangerously radioactive for over 1 million years. If the permit is approved, nuclear energy facilities all over the United States will ship radioactive material across Texas, by rail, for at least 10 years. A derailment or other railroad accident could expose all living things in the area to dangerous levels of radioactivity.
Andrews County is close to the middle of the Permian Basin, where about 25 percent of the United States’ oil and gas is produced. Hogg said that oil and gas producers already worry that the Permian Basin is a target for terrorist activity. An attack at a high-level nuclear waste facility would have “an immediate impact in a 50-mile radius.” Around 3,000 oil wells would be affected, Hogg said, not to mention the people.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will rule in 2021 on WCS’s permit application. The request is open for public comment. So far, big oil and gas companies, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, are against approving the permit. Hogg opposes WCS’s plan, but his opponent “won’t commit to being for or against” the permit. Neither Senator from Texas has addressed the issue.
In an earlier meeting with voters, Hogg said he was born in Tyler, Texas, to Baptist missionary parents. He grew up mostly in the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad-Tobago, just off the coast of Venezuela. After finishing high school in El Paso, he attended Baylor University. That’s where Hogg met and married his wife, Claire. He graduated from St. Mary’s Law School in San Antonio, and took a job in Claire’s hometown of San Angelo.
He has worked there as an attorney ever since. Hogg served on the San Angelo City Council for a few years.
His work takes him around TX-11, so Hogg has seen the types of businesses, the industry, and poverty and wealth around the district. He said, “Your perspective and understanding really change as you talk to people” on the campaign trail.
Hogg said that our current representation in Washington DC seems to focus on the political partisan issues that party leaders are interested in, instead of issues important to our district, like the crisis in rural healthcare, and investing in public education, infrastructure, and housing. “A congressman’s job is to be the voice of people in his district,” he said.
Hogg wants to bring common sense and common decency back to politics. When faced with difficult issues Hogg asks “What can we realistically achieve?” He added, “I’m a pragmatist at heart.” ***
This article includes quotes from an August 24, 2020, meeting with Comanche County voters. A recording is available for all to see at www.facebook.com/activedemocratscomanche. Learn more about Jon Mark Hogg at www.jonmarkhogg. com.
To see the oil wells in Andrews County, go to earth.google.com, search Andrews County, and zoom in until you see the white dots. Most of the white dots have oil wells on them, which would be affected by an accident at a nearby nuclear waste storage facility.
Suzann Thompson is the Democratic Party chair of Comanche County, which like parts of Erath County, is in Congressional District TX-11.