Why an oil and gas engineer has turned his attention to public policy – Houston Public Media

William Taggart spent 30 years, in his words, "solving problems for America's industries." The Houston-based oil and gas engineer, in that time, visited oilfields and industrial sites, often brought in to analyze and solve a variety of issues.

These days, he's turned his analytical approach to public policy, and lays out his vision for addressing a variety of challenges in his new book,

In the audio above, we talk with Taggart about the kinds of problems he was asked to analyze and solve while working in oil and gas, how he believes that prepared him to analyze current public policy challenges, and what conclusions he's come to about a wide range of issues, including climate change, energy production, and taxes and debt.