Oil industry’s sway still an issue in race for Railroad Commission
Christi Craddick
Age :48
Born: Midland
Hometown: Austin
Current job: Railroad commissioner Highest education: Doctorate College: University of Texas, 1991; University of Texas School of Law, 1995
Marital status: Single
Children: 1
Quote: “I am running to serve a second term as your Railroad Commissioner because I want to keep Texas the top state in the country for energy regulation and production, driving us toward greater economic prosperity and American energy security.”
Roman McAllen
Age: 52
Born: Houston
Hometown: Houston
Current job: Historic preservation officer for Denton
Highest education: Master’s degree College: University of Houston Downtown, 1990; UT-Austin, 2011
Marital status: Married
Quote: “I am concerned that the current RRC and GOP leadership in the executive branch of Texas are beholden to corporations and a few donors who have selfish motivations; the desire for short term profit and wealth continuity for less than 1% of the population is outweighing the health, safety and welfare of the other 99 plus % of the population. Unrestrained, this situation will lead to greater instability. Finally, I believe we are obligated to protect the environment for future generations and that corporations, due to their focus on profits, cannot be moral, ethical and concerned for the future. Regulation is necessary.”
Mike Wright
Age: 71
Born: Morristown, Tenn. Hometown: Houston
Current job: Retired
Highest education: Master’s degree College: U.S. Military Academy at West Point, 1969; Harvard Business School, 1979 Marital status: Married
Children: 2
Quote: “I have the educational background and experience to study the issues and make decision that are in the best interest of the citizens of Texas. I’m retired and can spend as much time as is needed to get the job done.”
Whether oil and gas companies have too much influence over their regulators is again dominating the race for a seat on the Railroad Commission, the state agency that oversees the energy industry.
Commissioner Christi Craddick, a Republican seeking a second term on the panel, is under attack from her opponents, who have criticized her close personal and financial ties to the oil and gas industry, and her acceptance of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from oil and gas interests.
Craddick is the daughter of Tom Craddick, the longest-serving state representative in Texas history and former speaker of the Texas House. Her father owns Craddick Properties, a Midland investment business; is president of Craddick Inc.; and has reported ownership in Craddick Partners. The family companies have numerous interests in oil and gas leases.
Before being elected to the commission in 2012, Craddick was an attorney specializing in oil and gas and other environmental issues, a lobbyist and a political consultant.
In her two races, energy interests have contributed at least $2.4 million to Craddick’s campaigns, according to FollowTheMoney .org, a website of the National Institute on Money in Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign contributions in state and federal elections. Craddick has raised more than $8 million since her first campaign in 2012, including more than $5 million for the 2018 election, according to FollowTheMoney.
Her Democratic opponent, Roman McAllen of Denton, has criticized Craddick and other commissioners for their connections to the industry and reliance on its campaign contributions. McAllen has raised less than $20,000, according to filings with the Texas Ethics Commission.
“Proper regulation requires an arm’s length relationship to the industry that you’re regulating. There is no arm’s length relationship,” McAllen said. “Railroad commissioners are just cheerleaders for the industry, especially my opponent.”
Craddick, however, maintains her close ties to oil and gas give her the understanding necessary to oversee a complex industry.
“I grew up in this industry, and I think it’s important to know this industry and have a working knowledge of this industry when you walk in the door,” Craddick said. “I don’t pick favorites. I’m a fair regulator and look at every case when we are taking a vote and have made good decisions.”
Established in 1891 to regulate the rail industry of the 1800s, the Railroad Commission of Texas is the oldest regulatory agency in the state and one of the oldest in the country. The three-member panel serves staggered, six-year terms.
Historically, commissioners have had long careers in the oil and gas industry, and accept millions of dollars in campaign contributions from oil and gas interests, said David Prindle, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Railroad Commission is one of the only statewide regulatory offices in Texas in which regulators are elected and not appointed. This situation makes a conflict of interest almost inevitable. Regulators oversee a very specialized industry and are expected to remain independent, but at the same time they must be knowledgeable about the industry and seek money to get reelected.
“This is politics. Unless you’re going to have public financing of elections, then the people who are directly interested in a politician’s policy positions are going to give money to people who say what they want to hear and promise to help them,” Prindle said. “That is not just a problem with the Railroad Commission. That is a problem with democratic politics everywhere.”
Craddick said in her second term, her priorities would be increasing transparency on the commission’s website and improving the commission’s information technology system. She said the commission has made great strides in both areas since she was elected.
Craddick said the commission has spent $30 million upgrading outdated IT, a project still in progress. She said the Railroad Commission website has also been updated with a mapping system that allows users to look up wells and find out what’s happening with them. And the agency has worked to post more information on its social media channels to keep the public more informed about the activities of the commission.
“More transparency is very important,” Craddick said. “The continued education about what we do as an agency is always going to be an interesting challenge because unless you’re in the oil and gas industry, you probably don’t realize that we exist.”
For years, critics of the Railroad Commission, including McAllen, have argued that the panel should change its name to better reflect its role in overseeing the oil and gas industry. Craddick opposes such a move, arguing that the $450,000 it would cost to make the name change is better spent on improving operations.
“If you Google ‘oil and gas,’ you can find the Railroad Commission pretty easily,” Craddick said. “Our priority really continues to be paying people well and finding good people. It’s more appropriate to use those dollars to put inspectors on the ground and upgrade our IT and pay our people appropriately.”
McAllen has served as the historic preservation officer for Denton for about two years. An insurance adjuster by profession, he assessed damages after Tropical Storm Allison in Texas in 2001 and other storms along the Florida coast. He said this experience will make him effective at making decisions affecting the state’s air and water because he saw the devastation caused by powerful storms, which are expected to occur more frequently as global temperatures rise.
McAllen said he believes local communities should have the power to regulate fracking and criticized the state’s loose regulation of air pollution, “orphaned” — or abandoned — oil and gas wells, and groundwater contamination. He said decisions of the commission should take into account climate change and the conservation of resources.
“The Earth doesn’t have a voice, and the average person who cares about this planet doesn’t have a voice on that commission,” McAllen said. “I’m running to represent those people so that they have a voice.”
Mike Wright, the Libertarian candidate for the office, is a graduate of West Point and Harvard Business School. He’s retired, but he said his decade of experience in the oil field manufacturing equipment industry will make him an effective commissioner.
Wright said commissioners are too lax when granting permits to oil and gas companies, and vowed he would provide more hands-on oversight if elected. He also said he would advocate for more recycling of wastewater from oil extraction. He said he wants to create a process for treating the water so that it could be used later for human consumption, fracking and agriculture.
“It’d be a win-win from an environmental standpoint, and for the oil companies, and for the people of West Texas,” Wright said.