‘ 26 state races: Railroad Commissioner
PROGRESSIVE VIEWS
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles where Progressive View writers explain what various statewide offices do.
The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) is celebrating 135 years as the state’s oldest and first regulatory agency. In 1891, Gov. Jim Hogg saw an abusive railroad industry and pushed the Legislature to establish the RRC to provide oversight of rates and operations of railroads, terminals, and wharves.
Today the RRC no longer regulates railroads but has the critical role of providing oversight of the Texas oil and gas industry and related industries like pipelines.
Many have suggested a name change, but “Railroad Commission” remains the name, perhaps to confuse us. RRC has three commissioners that oversee a bureaucracy of over 1,000 folks. The commission issues permits for drilling, enforces industry regulations, works to prevent waste of natural resources, and should play a key role in environmental protection.
Commissioners are elected to six-year staggered terms and each make $141,000 per year. Jim Wright is the current chair. The other commissioners are Wayne Christian and Christy Craddick, all Republicans.
Commissioner Craddick is an attorney with an oil and gas industry practice. Christian gained fame in the music industry, and Wright was a professional bull rider. Wright lost his Republican Primary bid to Bo French, a TCU history major who is running against Democrat Jon Rosenthal, a University of Texas engineering graduate with oil and gas experience. Currently, Rosenthal is a member of the Texas House, representing District 135.
I began working in the east Texas oil fields in 1970. At that time, the RRC was the leading and most innovative energy regulatory agency in the world.
Today’s RRC has many issues. The commissioners receive an estimated 60% of their campaign funding from the industry they regulate, according to a study by the nonprofit consumer protection think tank, Commission Shift.
RRC is considered an “industry captive agency” with current regulations being far too lenient and often written by the industry it regulates.
A prime example of RRC failures is the 11,000 orphan wells that haven’t been properly abandoned and are often leaking, causing contamination of ground water. Orphan wells are non-producing wells where the owner is bankrupt or cannot be found.
Oil and gas companies pay fees meant to cover things like orphan wells, but those fees are totally inadequate. Currently, both state and federal money is used to plug orphan wells. This is outrageous because industry should pay the entire cost, not Texas taxpayers.
The Commission plays a role in ensuring that natural gas supply failures during freezes don’t crash our electric grid. Commissioners should make sure plants are winterized.
The RRC can also help keep power bills more reasonable by ensuring a natural gas utility’s cost recovery is reasonable and by keeping natural gas flaring to a minimum. Some progress has been made to reduce flaring, and hopefully the RRC will continue to pressure industry to sell all natural gas that is produced.
We continue to see minor earthquakes in the oil patch due to oilfield wastewater injection. These operations are usually done by smaller entities that often cut corners. The RRC needs to tighten regulations on these wells and their operators.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Austin) has strong words for oil and gas regulation in Texas: “The Texas Railroad Commission has repeatedly catered to the powerful and the polluters over public health and the people. It’s hard to believe the Environmental Protection Agency would even consider giving additional oversight authority to a state agency bought and sold by fossil fuel corporations.”
While I am a strong supporter of alternate energy and efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, I have deep affection for the Texas energy worker. They toil day and night in all types of weather and deserve our support and respect. They will be there to help Texas transition to new energy sources like geothermal.
The United States is now producing a record 13.9 million barrels of oil per day with Texas leading the way, producing 42% of that total. Let’s make sure the RRC protects us, not the industries they regulate. Time for folks to vote Democratic up and down the ballot.
To find out more about how to get involved with the Kendall County Democratic Party, visit www.kcdems.us.
Kevin Henning is a local Democrat.
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