On Monday, Texas General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham unveiled a sweeping, multi-front initiative aimed at cementing the state’s economic independence, fortifying its energy grid against growing demands, and expanding state-led border security operations. Grounded in the agency’s historic mission to steward public lands, the ambitious plan tackles everything from breaking China’s foreign monopoly on rare earth minerals to tackling long-term water scarcity and restoring the historic Alamo grounds.
In an op-ed published Monday on Breitbart Texas where she called the GLO an “engine driving the Texas economy,” Buckingham outlined how the agency is working to insulate the state from external threats—ranging from federal overreach and global supply chain vulnerabilities to cartel activities along the southern border.
“The General Land Office has been an engine driving the Texas economy, but we are taking that to the whole next level,” Buckingham said. “We are going to power, produce, build, grow, and protect Texas like we’ve been doing, but people are going to understand more directly the impact on their lives.”
Expanding Grid Reliability and Breaking China’s Rare Earth Monopoly
Central to the GLO’s mission is strengthening Texas’s energy infrastructure. Buckingham emphasized the need to bring more dispatchable power onto the electric grid, partnering with energy producers across multiple sectors, including natural gas, geothermal, and salt-cooled nuclear energy.
The commissioner said about 2,000 people move into the Lone Star State each day. This puts increasing demands on the state’s critical infrastructure.”
We need more dispatchable energy on the grid, and we think we can be a power in that,” Buckingham emphasized. She explained the state will “partner up with the producers to whether it’s geothermal, salt-cooled nuclear, getting more natural gas plants online, whatever it is, whatever it’s going to take.”
Beyond traditional energy, Buckingham highlighted Texas’s critical role in national security through its vast reserves of rare earth minerals.
“Rare earth minerals are the key to national security,” Buckingham said, noting that China currently controls the vast majority of processing. “We have the largest, most complete set of rare earth minerals not under China’s control. We’re about to bust their monopoly, and we are super excited about that.”
“Our phones need them to work; jets need a ton of these minerals to fly,” Buckingham said, noting China’s recent aggressive market maneuvers.
Supported by a $1.5 billion investment from the Trump administration, in partnership with USA Rare Earth, Texas is spearheading a “mine-to-magnet” program designed to secure domestic supply chains for high-tech manufacturing, defense systems, and everyday consumer electronics.
“This mine-to-magnet program is going to be transformational—not just for America, not just in national security, but it’s also going to bring billions and billions of dollars of revenue into Texas,” the commissioner explained. “We think this is a 100-year supply. We’re heavy in the heavies—those are the most rare of the rare earth minerals.”
Addressing Rising Grid Demand from Data Centers
Commissioner Buckingham addressed the increasing pressure placed on the state’s infrastructure by rapidly expanding data centers and artificial intelligence facilities.
Recognizing that the migration of over 2,000 new residents a day alongside high-tech industrial expansion poses a challenge to energy and water security, Buckingham underscored that securing Texas’s resources requires balancing technological growth with grid stability.
“We’ve got water needs just like we have more electricity needs,” Buckingham noted, emphasizing that the GLO is taking a long-term approach to energy production and resource protection. “We also need to look at how we protect our electricity grid from the increasing demands… We should all be looking out 50 and 100 years, looking at the challenges that we’re going to face and seeing what we can face today.”
Funding Public Education and Supporting Texas Veterans
Buckingham noted that the GLO’s revenue generation serves a dual purpose: powering the economy while directly supporting Texans. Over her tenure, oil, gas, and real estate management on state lands have generated over $6 billion for Texas public education. These revenues flow directly into the Permanent School Fund of Texas—the nation’s largest sovereign wealth fund, valued at approximately $60 billion.
“Unlike western states dominated by federal land ownership, where revenues flow to Washington, D.C., Texas retained its unowned public lands when it entered the Union, keeping critical funding within the state,” she said. “It honestly is the perfect example of the single most transformational thing that our founding fathers did. Those revenues stay in Texas. They fund public education, and they fund our veterans’ benefits.”
These state lands also power veteran programs. Texas remains the only state with its own veteran mortgage leasing program, which has provided nearly $2 billion in home loans over the past four years. Additionally, the GLO oversees ten veterans’ nursing homes and five state cemeteries.
Cracking Down on Cartel Safe Havens at the Border
Addressing border security, Buckingham reiterated her commitment to combating cartel operations along the Rio Grande. Following requests from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the GLO identified and asserted state sovereignty over unmapped islands in the Rio Grande that cartels had used as lawless safe havens.
To date, the state has formally declared five islands—including one spanning 171 acres—with plans to claim roughly 20 more to allow law enforcement and military personnel to secure them.
Breitbart Texas reported on the State’s takeovers of Fronton Island in November 2023, when the Texas DPS and National Guard seized a strategic island used by the Gulf Cartel to smuggle humans and drugs into the U.S. and weapons from the U.S. into Mexico.
“With the authorization through Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, the State of Texas has taken over the island by clearing and fortifying it, allowing DPS and the National Guard to gain operational control in preventing cross-border crime,” DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez told Breitbart at the time.
Buckingham also detailed the GLO’s acquisition of a key ranch in the Rio Grande Valley, where prior owners had blocked law enforcement access and border wall construction.
The commissioner discussed border lands where cartels utilized “rape trees.” These are trees where human smugglers would have bras, panties, and other clothing articles from rape victims for “bragging rights” and intimidation.
“I personally got in a bulldozer and bulldozed those trees as an outward and visible sign that we were not going to tolerate that on state land,” Buckingham stated. “As a mom, the single most important thing to me is that our children have a safe place to grow up. And so that is why we fight the cartels with every ounce of energy that I have every single day.”
Tackling the State’s Long-Term Water Needs
With approximately 2,000 new residents moving to Texas daily, Buckingham stressed the urgency of securing long-term water resources alongside energy capacity.
The GLO is actively advancing solutions, including coastal desalination efforts and an innovative project focused on recycling “produced water”—saline byproduct from oil and gas extraction. Through the Produced Water Consortium, the agency is testing treated water on state-owned agricultural lands to grow crops like alfalfa, with long-term goals of utilizing millions of barrels of treated water per day for aquifer storage and river replenishment.
Buckingham also urged Texas municipalities to increase water recycling efforts to avoid drawing heavily from rural water sources.
Preserving the Spirit of the Alamo
Finally, Buckingham provided an update on the ongoing $550 million restoration of the Alamo. Recent developments include a newly opened collections center and a children’s education center, alongside plans for a 160,000-square-foot museum featuring a 4D immersive theater experience produced by filmmaker Taylor Sheridan.
Within the next year, a temporary protective structure will be erected over the historic Alamo church to allow structural repairs and roof replacement, ensuring the landmark stands for another 500 years.
“When everything’s said and done, our beloved Alamo is going to look like our beloved Alamo,” Buckingham promised. “We’re not changing its appearance; we’re just making it structurally sound.”
Preserving the Spirit of the Alamo
Finally, Buckingham provided an update on the ongoing $550 million restoration of the Alamo. Recent developments include a newly opened collections center and a children’s education center, as well as plans for a 160,000-square-foot museum featuring a 4D immersive theater experience produced by filmmaker Taylor Sheridan.
“What’s really going to catch everybody’s attention is the Alamo itself has some structural integrity issues,” the commissioner reported. “And so we’ve got to put a temporary protective structure over it to get the old roof off, new roof on, fix some structural integrity issues in the walls… that’s going to happen this next year.”
Within the next year, a temporary protective structure will be erected over the historic Alamo church to allow structural repairs and roof replacement, ensuring the landmark stands for another 500 years. “When everything’s said and done, our beloved Alamo is going to look like our beloved Alamo,” Buckingham promised. “We’re not changing its appearance; we’re just making it structurally sound.”
“So come now to see the Alamo, and come again when it’s all done.” Buckingham requested.
In conclusion
As the General Land Office rolls out its multi-front strategy to power, produce, build, grow, and protect the state, Commissioner Buckingham makes it clear that the agency’s mission stretches far beyond standard land management. From breaking foreign reliance on critical minerals to fortifying the state’s electrical grid and securing the border, the GLO is taking a proactive stance to defend Texas interests.
“We are the last remaining entity of the Republic of Texas,” Buckingham concluded. “When we were founded, we were the keepers of maps, the guardians of Texas history, and the stewards of our unowned lands. So we’re going to continue to protect it, to fuel it, to feed it, to provide for it, and keep Texas even greater.”
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
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