Official defends accepting energy industry’s money
The campaign contribution practices of railroad commissioners who regulate state’s oil and gas industry have long come under fire from some lawmakers and government watchdog groups.
The concern is that the three members of the Railroad Commission accept political donations from the companies they regulate, and not just a few contributions here and there. Oil and gas interests typically account for at least half the commissioners’ campaign contributions.
Understandably, that creates the impression that the industry gets special treatment from its regulators — which commissioners vehemently deny. Every legislative session, some lawmaker tries to pass a bill that would place modest limits
on the money flowing from oil and gas companies to the political coffers of commissioners, who serve sixyear terms. Those bills ultimately get nowhere in a Legislature where plenty of state representatives and senators also take campaign contributions from oil and gas companies. This session, Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, is taking a crack at the issue. His legislation, House Bill 464, aims to prevent commissioners from building campaign war chests in the years they are not up for re-election; it would restrict political donations to 17 months before an election and 30 days after. But like the bills that have gone before it, the chances of its passage are slim.
A story I wrote this month looked at a case involving ranchers in Jackson County and an oil company seeking permits to inject chemicallaced water and carbon dioxide into an aging field nearby to force oil to the surface.
The ranchers, whose cattle and livelihood depend on clean water, asked the commission to require Houstonbased Hilcorp Energy to pay for independent groundwater monitoring as a condition of the permits. The company, whose executive frequently donated to commissioners, opposed that condition.
The commission approved the project and turned down the ranchers’ request. The ranchers suspected why.
Commissioner Ryan Sitton declined to comment for my story, as did Commissioners Christi Craddick and Wayne Christian. But Sitton met with a group of editors and reporters and the Houston Chronicle last week, and he said he decides cases based on facts, not political donations. He also said he supports Anchia’s bill.
Sitton said he won’t take campaign contributions from companies when he thinks those donations are not appropriate — last year, he turned down a total of about $10,000 from three companies that had cases pending before the commission, according to his spokesman. He also pointed to an instance in November when the commission rejected a project proposed by Pioneer Natural Resources of Irving, noting that Pioneer executives frequently donate to commissioners’ campaigns.
We asked him why he accepts campaign contributions from the industry, even if it means he working under an ethical cloud. Sitton’s response: He needs the money to get elected.
“In other words, I need resources to go out and communicate with the potential voters and tell them about my background, tell them why I am qualified for the job, tell them why I am the best person to serve them,” he added. “The people who care enough and want to have a good Railroad Commission, and who have the resources to help fund that, are people in the industry.”
“I need resources to go out and communicate with the potential voters and tell them … why I am qualified for the job.” Commissioner Ryan Sitton