I ran across this video from the Austin American Statesman – a reporter asking people what is the business of the Texas Railroad Commission. Not many voters know. Once again, the Sunset Commission has recommended that the Commission’s name be changed to something like the Texas Energy Commission. Sounds like…
From Texas Tribune: A major metro paper endorses a third-party statewide candidate… The Houston Chronicle has endorsed Libertarian Mark Miller in the race to replace David Porter on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission. “Our editorial board interviews scores of candidates for political office every election year, but seldom do we…
The EPA has issued a report evaluating the Texas Railroad Commission’s regulation of injection wells: EPAreviewRRC The report criticizes the RRC in three areas, discussed below. Injection wells, permitted by the RRC, are used to dispose of oilfield waste – produced water, frac water, and other fluids. These liquid wastes…
Public Citizen Texas, an environmental watchdog group, has issued its comments on the Sunset Commission’s report recommending changes at the Texas Railroad Commission. Its comments can be viewed here. The comments largely agree with the Sunset Commission’s recommendations, but in several areas recommend additional reforms. I think Public Citizen’s comments…
The Sunset Commission has scheduled a public hearing August 22, 2016 to hear comments on its staff report on the Texas Railroad Commission. I have written previously about the staff report here, here and here. Information about the scheduled hearing can be found here. The staff’s report on the RRC…
Ryan Sitton is interviewed by Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune. And endorses Donald Trump. And questions the human causes of climate change. Watch the interview here.
The draft Sunset Commission report on the Texas Railroad Commission makes recommendations for legislative changes to the bonding requirements for oil and gas wells. Landowners should be familiar with how the RRC’s bonding system works, and how it could affect operations on their property. Operators of oil and gas wells…
The third issue identified by the Sunset Commission in its draft report on review of Texas Railroad Commission operations was the RRC’s monitoring and enforcement of its regulations. As in previous Sunset reports on the RRC, the Sunset Commission criticized the Commission’s enforcement practices and policies. RRC field inspections and…
The Sunset Advisory Commission staff have issued their draft report on the Texas Railroad Commission. Sunset review of the RRC has been controversial. This is the third time the agency has gone through sunset review since 2010, although most agencies aren’t reviewed by the Sunset Commission more than once every…
Republican candidates for the open seat on the Texas Railroad Commission were interviewed by Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune in an open forum yesterday. They were asked about global warming, earthquakes, the EPA, House Bill 40 and municipal regulation of drilling, Sunset Commission review of the Commission in the…