Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (Texas-26), sent a letter to the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission regarding its findings on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). "The interconnectedness and often overlapping roles of both the TCEQ and the RRC surrounding regulating and overseeing the exploration and development of natural gas production has led to much frustration within the communities of North Texas," Burgess said. " With the increased activity of oil and gas drilling in urban, residential areas, the role of the TCEQ and the RRC has never been more critical. Ensuring the success of both of these agencies must be the priority of every elected official in this state." Read more »

The White House and the Republican congressional leadership are quietly preparing for intensified scrutiny and investigations of Obama administration actions if the GOP takes control of the House, officials say. Republican lawmakers who would be in charge of investigative and oversight committees plan to renew a stack of information demands that have languished before federal agencies… Read more »

In retrospect, it was a premonition of the Obama era: Late in 2007, Congress banned incandescent lightbulbs, by a vote of 86 to eight in the Senate and 314 to 100 in the House. President Bush signed the bill in his late, get-me-back-to-Texas phase. Let's hope it's a better premonition that Congress may now be having second thoughts. Last month, Republicans Joe Barton, Michael Burgess… Read more »

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise today to introduce legislation to place a pause on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) irresponsible actions in moving forward toward approving a waiver for an increase in ethanol in fuel. Currently, gasoline contains a 10 percent blend wall of ethanol, known as E-10. The EPA is considering increasing the allowable amount of ethanol in… Read more »

So, are you ready to comply with the federal government’s ban on incandescent light bulbs? Me neither. Starting in January 2012, a little over a year from now, the phase-out begins. Simple, inexpensive lighting will become a time-capsule item. Compact-fluorescent lights, or CFLs—the bulbs that look like a twisted ice-cream cone (and won’t fit in many light fixtures where space is… Read more »

In 2007, Congress passed an energy bill that placed stringent efficiency requirements on ordinary incandescent bulbs in an attempt to phase them out beginning in 2012 and have them completely gone by 2014. The goal of the program is to replace incandescent bulbs with more expensive but more energy-efficient bulbs, the most popular currently being CFLs. Politicians used a distorted view of… Read more »

The federal government should establish a trust fund to pay for coastal restoration projects in states along the northern Gulf Coast, to be initially financed by penalties paid for violating federal laws, including 80 percent of any fines levied as a result of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, concludes a report released Tuesday by America's Energy Coast and its parent America's… Read more »

U.S. Reps. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., today introduced H.R. 6144, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act. The BULB Act repeals Subtitle B of Title III of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which is a de facto ban on the incandescent light bulb that has its origins in Thomas Alva Edison’s laboratory. “The unanticipated… Read more »

This past week, U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess (R-Lewisville) spent the week in Lewisville to attend a host of meetings. Monday, he sat down with The Leader to discuss a variety of topics. Oversight committee Burgess was named the top Republican on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in February. The subcommittee, a true… Read more »

The Register sits down with U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess, M.D. What are your focal points as a Congressman? The biggest concern I have is for the implementation of this health care law that was passed. That is where the majority of our committee work is going to occur in the coming Congress. I’m the highest ranked Republican on the subcommittee of oversight and investigations.… Read more »