THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 48 Chris Hosek, Principal at Texas Star Alliance

On this great episode, we visit with Chris Hosek. Who is a principal of Texas Star Alliance, specializing in direct lobbying and state agency relations. Chris has experience with a broad range of legislative issues and policy initiatives including a specific expertise in the energy sector. Chris served as the chief of staff for 5 years to the Chair of the Railroad Commission of Texas. The Railroad Commission is the regulatory body that oversees Texas’ energy industries including all levels of the oil and gas industry, pipeline safety, gas utility rates, and the permitting and reclamation of coal and uranium mines. Thank you so much Chris for stopping by the Austin Studio and Giving us THE CRUDE TRUTH!

Please reach out to Chris Hosek on his LinkedIn HERE

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Highlights of the Podcast

THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 48 Chris Hosek, Principal at Texas Star Alliance

Rey Treviño [00:00:00] Well in the oil and gas industry, there’s no doubt we always need an alliance to make sure that oil and gas continues to provide for every American and everybody else around the world. But those alliances also need stars. Here we’re going to talk about that and much more on this episode of The Crude Truth.

Rey Treviño [00:01:49] Well. Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. Whatever time of the day it is. I just want to thank you very much for watching for listening to another episode of The Crude Truth today. I’m just so excited. We were actually at the newest studios of the Real News Communications Network down here in Austin, Texas. We’ll get a good view of the entire studio and what the backdrop looks like here in a second. But I just want to do a quick shout-out to them and very excited to be shown here in these brand-new studios. That being said, even more exciting is my guests today. I’ve got a guest who is known as the Oil and Gas Consultants of Texas and is also a fighter at the federal level. This guy is somebody who is always doing the nitty gritty work, working for the oil and gas industry to make sure that we continue to have hundreds of thousands of jobs here in the great state of Texas and across the United States. My guest today from the Texas Star Alliance is Chis Hosek. Chris, how are you?

Chris Hosek [00:02:47] Great. Great. Thank you for having me here today. This is exciting and congratulations on the studio. This is it’s an amazing facility you have here.

Rey Treviño [00:02:54] Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for thank you for coming in. I cannot thank you enough. I know I’ve been asking you, I thank goodness for a year since I first started this. And you were like, you just started out. I like how it goes. All right, get back to me. And like, I’m pretty busy in there. And you’ve always been so for you to be here right now. Thank you so much.

Chris Hosek [00:03:12] Well, I appreciate it. I mean, it shows you persistent work that you’re already down. You made me down. You got me here. So it’s exciting to be here. I really appreciate it.

Rey Treviño [00:03:20] Oh, well, you know what you’re doing. You know, it’s. There’s no end. This about is is one of the most important things that we’re doing here is keeping jobs going. And you’re doing that in the oil and gas industry. I mean, how long have you been doing this good fight with this job right now?

Chris Hosek [00:03:36] I think, you know, it’s actually an incredible story and it’s kind of the story of the renaissance of the oil and gas industry. You know, I was lucky enough to end up at the Railroad Commission. I worked for a member who was appointed to the commission by Governor Rick Perry in the mid-2000s, her name was Elizabeth Ames Jones, and she was the commission’s chairman. I was her chief of staff. And we really hit the commission at the very most interesting time. It was right when the shale revolution took off. Right. So we get there and I remember I was a couple of weeks into it and, you know, I’m still trying to figure out where the restrooms are and they’re giving us policy briefings. And at one point there was we were building an LNG import facility. This how long ago was right? Yeah, this was where we were and we were trying to permit that and we’re about to sign the permit for the import facility. At the same time we were talking, they were briefing me on something called the new remember this, the Newark Barnett Shale, which obviously became the Barnett Shale. And you know, they were telling me how much gas was actually in the fuel. Right. And what the projections could be. And at the time they were very underestimated. Right. Because technology grows. But I remember sitting there thinking and I was talking to our executive director, I was like, you know, somebody wants to import gas. And we’re sitting on all this gas in the Fort Worth areas. Like, I don’t understand, somebody’s got to be wrong here. And he’s like, Yeah, somebody has to be wrong. And yeah, and I and from that point, you know, we saw the development of shale and it just, it take off and you know, being at the commission was a very it was such a great opportunity and I saw a lot of things that happened in the industry that were incredible and awesome. But I also saw a lot of things that went wrong. And, you know, there were a lot of challenges in developing a shell field in an urban area.

Rey Treviño [00:05:21] Yeah.

Chris Hosek [00:05:21] And even I would say this in even in a rural area because it was a different type of development because you’re drilling lateral, you know, it was it wasn’t your traditional vertical. So it was there for, I want to say, five or six years. And you during that time, you know, I engaged with consultants and lobbyists. In what I can figure it out halfway through is that you know, these mid-sized companies and the companies that discovered Shell, right? As you know, the majors weren’t really involved in it at the time. And we would engage with some. But there were, you know, probably two dozen, three dozen out there that really didn’t have representation at the capital.

Rey Treviño [00:05:58] Yeah.

Chris Hosek [00:05:58] And, you know, being there, being at the commission for about five years, I thought it was time to, you know, venture out, see if I couldn’t try to be a consultant and. You know, it was tough the first couple of months. You know, I you know, my wife actually, you know, she gave we had a long conversation about it and she’s like, I’ll give you the space and try this and do this. And it was challenging the first couple of months, but then, you know, got my first client. And by the way, I still have them today. We had a little shout-out to arrange resources but there were my first clients and then I built off that and then, you know, grew my business slowly and steadily and then, you know, kind of branched out into other lobbying practices here, too. But that’s kind of where I started.

Rey Treviño [00:06:44] You talk about, okay, you’re a lobbyist, right? So you are fighting for sure at the Capitol behind us every day during the session. But before we go any further, I want to read something probative just so that people know what it is and how awesome like that to be trying to kiss butt or anything, but just how much you have, how much you talk about trial and error, maybe you’re like you’ve learned so much, right? But the awards and everything that you’ve done for the oil and gas industry, you were named CEO, Bagged the CEO magazine’s Innovator of the Year 2018 Texas Oil and Gas Award for Service Excellence, and the first energy lobbyist to win the award in 2015 17 to 19, you were ranked in the top power rankings by Capital Insight, which is a Texas political publication. In 2013, you were recognized as a rising star on the 10th annual Texas Lobbyist Power Rankings. Also in 2013, you had the Austin Business Journal named Who’s Who in Energy. So for you to say that you’ve been doing this, you’ve learned like and you succeeded, you saw the trials and errors that the awards right there just say that you have done nothing but exceed that in Texas Star Alliance, which is your baby.

Chris Hosek [00:07:57] Right.

Rey Treviño [00:07:57] That’s why you all not only kept your first client, but you’ve grown from there.

Chris Hosek [00:08:01] That’s right. And I hate it when people say wonderful things about me. Please keep going. I you know, I can I could add a couple too. No, but thank you. Yeah. You know, when you say that I didn’t really I haven’t really thought of that in a long time. And yeah, it’s been an incredible ride. It really has. And it’s something exciting when it’s like anything else. When you do your own business, you have your ups and downs. Yes. But it’s really been kind of an amazing experience and I look forward to the future. I’m excited about what I do. And when you know, they say when you love something you do, you’re really not working. And I would think that all the time until I go through a session and then I like I love this, but I feel like I’m working really hard. But it’s, you know, an exciting place to be and I love it.

Rey Treviño [00:08:42] Well, I’ve tried not to, you know, it just not to, you know, gosh. Or anything. But you are fighting this fight. You have been doing this now for over ten years. and you are you’re behind the scenes. So, again, thank you for being on camera today or because you were the guy that is out there doing the dirty work, you know, getting dirty, fighting for the oil and gas industry there at Texas Star Alliance. And if you don’t mind sharing, it’s just a little bit about sites of Star Alliance and how you all fight for the oil and gas

Chris Hosek [00:09:13] Right, Yes, sure. So we’re a very interesting firm. So we have 14 lobbyists. We’ll be all on our own piece of the business. Right? So we collaborate sometimes when we’re on different clients. But I typically focus solely you know, I was focusing solely on oil and gas, so they would look at me as kind of their energy guy. But I’ve since then I’ve branched out. But you know what’s really interesting, especially when I go to D.C. or other states and talk to other consultants, they think it’s easy to be kind of an energy lobbyist in Texas, and that’s far from the truth, right? So we have a Senate citizen legislator, legislature, legislature, right. So it’s its members that come in that have different professions, and they have to become proficient on all issues that over Texas. Right. Not just oil and gas. Right. Transportation, health care, education. And so having said that, trying to get the focus of members on certain issues can be challenging even when they’re on the Energy Resource Committee. You know, we have a couple of members that do have oil and gas backgrounds and we have a couple of experts I would consider in the House that are really doing deep dives into energy. But other than that of the, you know, educating the other members is always a process. Yeah. And how they do that and again, to their defense, they’re dealing with like constituent issues they’re dealing with, you know. Road issues in their district or something like that, or growth issues in Texas, we had tremendous growth issues. So, you know, that process is always challenging and it’s also always fun sometimes, too.

Rey Treviño [00:10:45] Well, you know, you mentioned that you’ve branched out from oil and gas. You have other individuals that you support and you fight for. You know, one is and I always say that the oil and gas industry, we’re conservatives. You know, you go out to the oil and gas field. I’ve said it before, we love to ha we love to fish. And we understand, you know, the environment and how important it is to the ecosystem there. I said. But during our pre-production meeting, you shared actually one of the fun little preserves that that you perch near. Do pro bono there, if you don’t mind to talk.

Chris Hosek [00:11:17] Yeah, you know, absolutely. I think it it’s a great story and it’s you know, it’s a story I tell at the beginning of speeches idea for the oil and gas industry and I, I learn not to tell the story anymore because once I tell the story and I get my one gas speech, they always ask about that client. So about, you know, right before a session last year, I got a call from a colleague in D.C. who I worked with, and she had reached out to me and she said, Look, I referred to some business before. I’d like for you to represent this preserve in Texas. And what it is, it’s it’s an elephant preserve. And said that. Right. There are three Asian elephants. They have a couple of giraffes out there. It’s a wildlife park. And no offense to my clients listening to this, but they are my favorite clients. I mean, who doesn’t love elephants? And, you know, they were an interesting story. They were in the movies in California, and their regulatory environment, I think, became a little challenged. And they felt a little bit better in Texas. And then they started seeing some challenging legislation pop up. So I engage with them. And, you know, I did you know, like I said, I did it almost pro bono. And kind of my favorite story about that is like when we finally settled on the number, I said, I’d like to add one more thing. And she was like, Sure, what is that? And I said, I like an elephant named that, or I’d like an animal named after me is what I said. And she started laughing and I was like, Well, I’m actually serious. So I went home and I told my wife that story and I’ll never forget My wife looked at me and just said something like, I can never tell if you’re serious or not. Did you really ask that? I said, Yes. So you were going to this preserve and they have lots of different animals out there. There’s an African crested porcupine and his name is Little Chris or his. Like I told you earlier, I’d like to think of him as a rapper. So he’s like little Chris, you know, And he’s and it’s fun. You know, I send some people out to, you know, friends and I promote them and they’re like, they’re it’s a great family organization. I could not be more proud to represent them.

Rey Treviño [00:13:18] Well, I tell you what, when you first start to tell the story, you’re like, okay, you got an elephant named after you, you know?

Chris Hosek [00:13:23] Yeah. No, no, not a.

Rey Treviño [00:13:24] Rhinoceros, something like that. It’s a porcupine.

Chris Hosek [00:13:27] It is a 45.

Rey Treviño [00:13:28] I love it. Yeah.

Chris Hosek [00:13:29] To kind of even make the story a little bit, you know, just to go a little bit on. My wife and I were out there. We were looking at it and, you know, you can pet, you know, there we were. I was scratching and patting him. And I didn’t realize, you know, part of their defense is a mask. They have an odor. And so I was talking to my wife about it and she’s like, you really didn’t think this out. Right? So you have a porcupine that can stick people and it smells bad. She goes, That’s perfect little craft right there. Yeah. She’s like, That makes perfect sense. I was like, Yeah, I didn’t think that one out, but it’s fun. It’s like I said, they’re great kind and they’re just I couldn’t say enough great things about, well.

Rey Treviño [00:14:02] You know, we probably just now had one of the craziest sessions there ever was. You know, what was good about the oil and gas, You know, how did that go in there? Just some of the crazy stories I went through.

Chris Hosek [00:14:11] On right now. That’s actually a good question. I think the oil and gas industry had it like every other session you have wins and you have losses. Right? So, I mean, there are a lot of things we were focused on in this session. There was a CO2 sequestration bill that unfortunately didn’t make it to the goal line that would that had its challenges. There was a we were trying to rewrite chapter 13, the incentive bill. You know, it had been it had been sunsetted two years ago that had passed. There were a couple of other bills that we were looking at to enhance oil recovery from rationalization. Yeah, some of the bills are some of the wells. Unfortunately, that didn’t that didn’t make it across the finish line either. But, you know, I think it’s important to note that, you know, I tell my clients this a lot, that, you know, it’s very rare that you pass a bill, that your first one at your first session. There’s such an educational process about it, especially when you’re talking about something about resetting motivation. Yes. You know, you have to really look at the data over a long period of time. I think there are other states that have passed those session bills. So there’s a blueprint out there that we’re looking at. And, you know, hopefully, we can really sit down with some members and talk about what’s going on in these other states and how successful that has been and how we can implement that in Texas. You know, we have a couple of orphan well bills out there, but it was there was also a huge fight over electricity. And that’s important to our industry, too, because, you know, we’re obviously big users of electricity. And, you know, there were, you know, the PUC, it passed a plan, you know, prior to the session. There was a lot of debate and discussion about it. And, you know, in the end, I think the final bill that was passed is something that’s going to be good for the industry, oil and gas industry. It’s going to be you know, it sets some guardrails around kind of the process we had in place.

Rey Treviño [00:16:00] So.

Chris Hosek [00:16:01] So it’s you know, that was that was you know, those are huge wins. I think there were some bills that were passed that prevented cities from passing certain ordinances.

Rey Treviño [00:16:14] Yes.

Chris Hosek [00:16:15] You know, think about, you know, banning like. Natural gas grilles or something like that in your home. Or like certain types of lawn care equipment or certain types of equipment in general, you know, those bills passed. So those were you know, those were interesting bills.

Rey Treviño [00:16:32] And that one was kind of like I remember the rumor was Dallas, the city of Dallas was trying to pass. You couldn’t use gas-powered lawnmowers or something like that.

Chris Hosek [00:16:40] Yeah, I’m not sure what city. Yes. Yeah, but.

Rey Treviño [00:16:42] Like, didn’t do it back in 20 a few years ago. Right. They tried to. Well, they banned fracking right? That’s right. And then they overturned it.

Chris Hosek [00:16:53] Right.

Rey Treviño [00:16:54] And so basically now it was kind of like a blanket thing across the state, right?

Chris Hosek [00:16:58] Yeah, That was a preemption bill out. Gosh, I’m going to say that was 13, maybe 11, or something like that that was passed. And what’s interesting about the city is they passed a ban on hydraulic fracturing, but not drilling. Right. So this is why, you know, when you look at something, you know, there’s a reason why a rare commission where the commissioners are the experts and oversee this. And so, yeah, that was very important. That was and I think that was a blueprint that was used around the country on certain issues. But, you know, we had to you know, it was so interesting not just with that, but, you know, as I mentioned to you earlier, we actually had a member removed. Yes. We had an at the very end there was the impeachment of our attorney general, which is now only, you know, we’re about to air the trial soon. Yeah, in a couple of months. And so it was a session like I have never really experienced before in my life, just, you know, set aside the energy, the heavy industry, energy bills and legislation that were being passed. It was really these those issues and several other kinds of, you know, minor kind of I don’t want to say scandals, but, you know, engagements that you see, you know, that happened around the Cabinet card was made It so fascinating to be here. It really was. And you don’t realize how many eyes are on Texas until you go to another state or Washington, D.C. And, you know, I do some work up there for some nonprofits and some international groups and then, you know, not bragging about living in Texas, but nobody really cares what’s happening in Nebraska. No, no. I mean, or, you know, I could pick any other state, but it’s like, you know, I I’m in there and like, hey, we heard this is happening and this is how and, you know, it’s fascinating how D.C. is are in other states are really keyed in what’s happening in Texas. And that shouldn’t be surprising. We’re one of the largest if you were to pull this out, I think we’re the eighth-largest economy in the world. Maybe. I mean, I heard our comptroller kind of give an interesting talk. It was at the Greater Houston partnership. And he said when he took over when he was first elected, and I may be messing up the numbers a little bit because he’s the comptroller, he’ll know far more than me. But I think we elected he said we were the 11th largest economy in the world. And then he takes it down. He’s like, then two years later, we’re the 10th, and two years later we’re not. And I think we ended up at the eight okay, don’t factor actually, but it was hearing kind of the growth of Texas. And I think we all see it. We see it with not just people moving here, but these major announcements that these companies are making all across Texas and not just small ones, you know, semiconductors, you know, fabrications being built everywhere, huge manufacturing along the coast. I mean, if you we have a lot of green space down there. And if you have green space and access to ports, we have cheap energy here, you know, wow. It’s a recipe for growth and we’re seeing it.

Rey Treviño [00:19:48] Well, you talk about the growth. I’ll make a cheesy joke. I mean, even the elephants are leaving California.

Chris Hosek [00:19:55] Oh, God. How did I miss that? You know. What? I’m going to you know, I’m going to use that. I’m going to credit you next.

Rey Treviño [00:20:00] I don’t Know.

Chris Hosek [00:20:00] Okay. I think I’m going to do this on my own. I’ll take that as my own joke. I’ll take that one.

Rey Treviño [00:20:05] I mean, even they’re leaving California. And you’re absolutely right about how Texas goes. America goes.

Chris Hosek [00:20:10] I agree, though.

Rey Treviño [00:20:11] And, you know, go and time back into the oil and gas. It’s like that’s Texas oil and gas goes American oil and gas goes. I mean, we have the most number of rigs in the United States right here. That’s right. And then you look at security, energy security. So it’s like really as strong as the Texas economy can be as a whole. But America is going to be Who would have ever thought that literally America is on our shoulders?

Chris Hosek [00:20:35] Right.

Rey Treviño [00:20:35] And so that’s just something that you guys are doing to fight.

Chris Hosek [00:20:38] Yeah. And, you know, I think we’ve always kind of believed that in the energy space here. But it’s been highly, you know, emphasized with this recent war in Ukraine or what’s going on with Russia. And, you know, there was a recent article, I want to say it was in the Financial Times about how the U.S. is winning the energy war because of this. And, you know, because of this war, we’re, you know, exporting companies, be it oil or, you know, natural gas, know they’re signing deals that are like 30-year deals. Yes. Yes. And and that’s good. I mean, you know, I you know, it’s a huge debate on, you know, renewable energy. The traditional energy or something like that, but. You know, when you look at what we do in taxes and you look at compared to where energies, Bruce, elsewhere in the world, you want your oil and gas produced in Texas, we have high, high by rental standards. Oh, you know who doesn’t? Russia. Right. You know, other countries do not. Walk the line. You can have the regulation, the environmental regulation we do in Texas. So even when I travel internationally and we talk about this and I and I talk to groups and like explain to them kind of our environmental standards here, they’re a little bit and all I’m that because they won’t they would not extend it that way. So I and you know I’m I’m proud to represent this industry I’m I was proud to work at the Railroad Commission. And, you know, being in Austin, when you tell somebody you’re an oil and gas lobbyist, it’s a little bit of you know, a little bit of a sideways view on it. But it’s something I’m proud of in I’m, you know, proud to advocate for my clients.

Rey Treviño [00:22:11] Well. Again, you know what you’re doing. You should be I mean, I read about it often, the accolades and you just hired in three things Energy, Railroad Commission, and the economy, all in one deal and the environment. And I don’t know if you saw the article that came out just this past week on Yahoo Finance where two representatives from the state of Texas, Castro, and Daggett, sent a letter to the EPA saying that the Railroad Commission basically doesn’t know how to regulate oil and gas and that they’re ruining the environment. Can you just be you know, can you say something about that? Because you’ve been with the Railroad Commission, you understand the environment. And for them to say that to guys, I think that has absolutely no experience in oil and gas, to sit there and say that word, we don’t know how to do our own stuff in Texas. And they’re Texans themselves. I think it’s pretty insulting.

Chris Hosek [00:23:06] Yeah. I mean, look, there’s an interstate. Yeah. No, no. I mean, we were talking about that. I was talking about that just yesterday. And, you know, this is where, you know, politics intersects policy. Right?

Rey Treviño [00:23:17] Right.

Chris Hosek [00:23:17] And, you know, there are certain members you can have an honest conversation about energy. And then there’s probably really any policy issue. And then there are some that strive for political gain. And, you know, to say that, look, I have full confidence in the Railroad Commission issued these permits. These are the experts, not just in the country but in the world. And, you know, I see it even today. But when I was at the commission, we would entertain international delegations coming in and trying to figure out how we did it. How are you doing? It’s how do you regulate this? You know, and I just know from my colleagues over there, they’re still coming in today. We are considered Texas, the Railroad Commission, kind of a global expert on regulatory policy and environmental policy when it comes to the oil and gas industry. And. Yeah. You know, I just kind of look at that as politics. Politics right now. And that’s the way that’s going to shake out. I, I, I don’t know how much that’s going to impact their decision on the delegation of authority, so.

Rey Treviño [00:24:17] Well, yeah. And see, to me, you know, they’ve been doing so much with regulations and doing that to me since it’s the EPA because EPA can’t they’re not a government arm are Well, they’re not. They’re not they can’t make law, but they can make these regulations which will then make it, you know.

Rey Treviño [00:24:32] Right.

Chris Hosek [00:24:33] So that’s what worries me more than anything else. Not necessarily that, you know, the EPA will actually come into Texas and take over. But the fact that they’ll throw even more stuff on because small operators like me, I mean, we’re the ones that and we produce, you know, 50% of the oil.

Chris Hosek [00:24:48] Right. That’s right.

Rey Treviño [00:24:49] And yet we’re the ones that, you know, I always tell people it’s like, hey, man, if there’s a lizard, like, I know David Blackmon came up talking about that lizard in West Texas. Right. You know, ExxonMobil, they can go find and hire five biologists tomorrow to go fight the good fight for that lizard so that the lizard moves and they can drill. Well, you know, the other I’m like, I’ll probably call it Texas Star. Like, we need to get this saying, yeah, well,

Chris Hosek [00:25:13] let. I make sure I give all my numbers for the end of that. No, but it’s but I mean, your points, I mean, so accurate, I think and this is one of the challenges our industry faces. They view the oil and gas industry as kind of what they see on TV. Yeah, and it’s really like mom-and-pop shops like you, you know, work in, you know, rigs and, you know, working wells and not many, but very productive. You’re producing severance tax, you’re producing sales tax. You’re employing I don’t know how many places you are, but you know, you some of these smaller operations, it could just be a mom pop or they could have ten or they got a 20. And these are the people that are like where the rubber meets the road in small-town Texas or get even in that. I mean, they’re the guys that show up at the, you know, the rodeo in Cuero, Texas, right?

Rey Treviño [00:25:58] Yeah.

Chris Hosek [00:25:58] They’re sponsoring the you know, the FFA and Gonzalez Texas and it’s are those small service companies out there, too. So it’s that trickle-down effect. Yeah, I think that’s the challenge is, you know, policymakers not just in D.C., but some of them here in the state, you know, they don’t realize how the small of their laws impact small operators. Now, I believe the rarer commissioners do, I think they’ve they’re acutely in tune with what’s going on with small operators to a certain extent most of the time. And I think if there’s a problem, small operators reach out to them and I think it’s a great engagement. I but in DC they don’t get they don’t get it you I mean they, they think it’s somebody else and that’s I think a challenge that I, I don’t ever think is going to go away. I think in DC they’re always all right Yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:26:47] You know and then you mentioned the small operators I know guys that are maybe five people producing 100 barrels a day, maybe 150. And when you’ve got five people or less on a payroll, that’s a very clean living.

Chris Hosek [00:26:59] Right.

Rey Treviño [00:27:00] And and then you talk about the small towns. You mentioned a bill that did not pass, which was the re-stimulation, and what that would have done correct me if I’m wrong, I just wanted to bring it up. Yeah. A little bit more real quick that oil and gas companies could go back in and get incentives to go in and simulate are basically reworking older oil wells and these smaller cities would benefit from that right there by you know the gas stations will get busy again the small restaurants by bringing in the individuals to do do the work out there

Chris Hosek [00:27:33] right now. I think you’re absolutely right when you say that. And, you know, like I said, legislation is a process. Yes. And it’s you know, we got to figure this out. We’re going to have to you know, there’s a lot of education involved on it. But and you’re right, I think it would impact the small towns. And, you know, this is just an anecdotal story, but I always tell this and I think it’s interesting. My family, grew up in the League City area, but my family always had a ranch. GONZALES Texas. Right. Which is now at the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale, right? Yeah. But so we would go through this town as little kids and up and even till, you know, 15 years ago, it was it was dead Main Street, right? There was nothing there. Maybe two or three restaurants. The Eagle Ford Shale sweeps in right now. And if you were to go to downtown Gonzales, there’s probably, you know, four or five nice restaurants and your atmosphere, you see a lot of development around there. And that’s really I just find it so interesting to witness that happen firsthand about, you know, that kind of development in a kind of smaller town, a smaller community, and what the industry brought in there to do. And it’s and you still you know, you drive down 183 from Gonzales into Cuero, you can still see a lot of activity out there. And it’s it’s really exciting to see the.

Rey Treviño [00:28:47] Way it is. I know we’ve been driving that 183 down to the Rock Porter

Chris Hosek [00:28:51] Yeah. You know, a lot of people do that. Yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:28:53] And now the fluids and the well, when you’re not doing oil and gas or fighting for the elephants here in the great state of Texas, sure. You also do other fun things. And you. Just started a new venture with another group, and I wanted to see if you want to talk about that for a minute. That one’s just too much fun.

Chris Hosek [00:29:08] Yeah, that is it is fun. It’s a great adventure. Yeah, it’s a it’s it’s alcohol. It’s a beer company, a ranch water company called the Four Sixes. And it’s there was an investment group that approached me about six months ago and this is. You know, one of the primaries is Taylor Sheridan, the great writer that’s done, you know, Yellowstone 1823 or 1923. And I forget the one he did with Tim McGraw. But it’s. But we developed three lines of beer three lines of ranch water and I think three lines about seltzer water, which I don’t drink. But but it’s a but it’s it’s so fabulous and it’s so amazing to kind of work with this group and be involved with them. And I love their product, too. It’s it’s it’s fascinating to kind of see something move kind of from the beginning stages to where we are.

Rey Treviño [00:30:01] well.

Chris Hosek [00:30:02] It’s amazing.

Rey Treviño [00:30:03] I think what the four-six brand is going to do as a whole. I mean, you look at not only, you know, other other branches and they’ve got that. So it would be exciting to see what they do with that four, six. And I think the beer is a pretty cool idea. You’re a brewer basically.

Chris Hosek [00:30:19] Well, no, not me.

Rey Treviño [00:30:20] What do they call it, a brewmaster or something like that?

Chris Hosek [00:30:22] I love the take writer for all that. And as you know, there’s a joke in the lobby where you take credit for things you didn’t do and you assess failure to someone else. But it’s a no. But it is. I love the product and, you know, it’s it’s exciting. And I think people get excited about it because there was just a lot of buzz around his work and what he’s doing out there. And, you know, he’s the owner of the four sixes now, what he’s doing out there and everything we’re doing with it. So, yeah, no, that’s exciting. You know what? I should have brought some over to Ford. Maybe next Time.

Rey Treviño [00:30:50] I know what we put it right here.

Chris Hosek [00:30:52] Oh, I should have done that.

Rey Treviño [00:30:53] Don’t. I don’t mind.

Chris Hosek [00:30:54] I needed to consult you before you.

Rey Treviño [00:30:56] Oh, before we do this now, you’re the consultant. I mean, I just. I just thought I wanted to ask you a few questions.

Chris Hosek [00:31:02] Well, now that’s fine. That’s fine.

Rey Treviño [00:31:03] Oh, man. Well, Chris, you know, wrapping up, I just, you know, if you don’t mind, tell people how they can get a hold of Texas Star Alliance if they’re looking for someone to fight for them.

Chris Hosek [00:31:12] Yeah, sure. I mean, you can find us on you know, on our websites, Texas Star Alliance. It’s, you know, that’s probably the best way to get a hold of us all. Our contact information is on there. But yeah, I appreciate you mentioning that, and love being here. Love talking to you. I want to do it again. Yeah, it’ll be fun.

Rey Treviño [00:31:31] Well, I’m excited, but we’ll have to do it again. Yea. Real soon. Because especially like I said, with this new studio here and there’s no reason not to because oil and gas is here in Austin, even though half the town wishes there was no oil and gas, you know, they’re pretty bright side.

Chris Hosek [00:31:44] Well, no, this. Is a yeah to tell you it’s an amazing studio and you know I’m so excited for you guys and look forward to watching you in the future.

Rey Treviño [00:31:50] Well, thank you so much. Well, it’s all my listeners, followers, or people watching at home. But thank you guys very much. And we’ll see you next time on another episode of The Crew. Truth.