The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), while conjuring up visions of a state agency that regulates steam engines traveling on rails, is actually Texas’ main regulator of oil and gas, coal mining, and uranium exploration mining among other things.
Why a state agency with a name referring to railways regulates energy production is a long and complicated history. Suffice it to say that the agency, whose regulatory functions are particularly important because Texas is the undisputed leader in oil and gas production, seems just as confused about its capacity as its name.
The RRC relies on production taxes primarily from the oil and gas industry and is led by three elected officials who seem to spend more time extolling the virtues of oil and gas than ensuring that safety and environmental protections are effective.
Recently, the three commissioners, the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, and other stakeholders were invited to the Texas House Committee on Energy Resources to provide testimony on the Railroad Commission’s’ enforcement and compliance efforts. While the resulting discussion touched on issues ranging from what to do about abandoned wells to seismic activity from the injection of wastewater, much of the conversation focused on the job the Commission is doing in enforcing the law.
In his testimony, Chapter Conservation Director Cyrus Reed told the Committee that while some improvements have been made, the Commission’s enforcement policy falls far short of what is needed to protect the public and ensure that bad actors are deterred from breaking the law. Recommendations put forward by the Lone Star Chapter included:
- Improving access to enforcement data by creating an online database searchable by company and county
- Improving the process for making a complaint against a violator and creating a trackable and internet-accessible complaint database
- Increasing the maximum fines allowed in statutes from $10,000 to $25,000 per violation per day
- Creating a higher fine structure for those with repeated violations and those who gain economically by circumventing the law
- Increasing the number of inspectors and establishing parameters to ensure that all wells are inspected each year
A copy of our presentation can be found here. Other stakeholders emphasized the need to have guidelines for making complaints and to establish relationships between the Railroad Commission and local governments, like groundwater conservation districts, to improve inspections, enforcement, and compliance.
The Railroad Commission of Texas is getting extra scrutiny this year not only because of the upcoming election of a new Commissioner in November, but because the agency is again going through the “Sunset” agency review process. The Sunset staff is expected to release a report in May and the Sunset Commission -- a separate legislative committee composed of five senators, five representatives, and two public members -- will hold a public hearing, most likely in June.
At the release of the Sunset report, legislators, the public, the energy industry, and the Sierra Club will have a chance to review the recommendations and, eventually, Sunset Commissioners will act on the recommendations, as well as upon any other issues raised by the public. The resulting “sunset” bill will most likely land back at the Energy Resources Committee. While a Sunset bill must be filed, there is no guarantee it will pass.
Recently, the Lone Star Chapter submitted its recommendations to the Sunset Commission, which can be found here.
The Chapter invites our members to participate in upcoming hearings. Stay tuned!