Energy panel’s changes stall out
A Texas legislative panel that reviews state agencies on Thursday dropped all of the substantial — and controversial — proposals aimed at improving the operations and transparency of the Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator.
The proposals, recommended by the staff of the panel, called the Sunset Commission, included transferring the authority to oversee natural gas utilities, increasing reporting on wells used for the disposal of drilling wastewater and changing the name of the Railroad Commission to better reflect its role in regulating the state’s energy industry.
The Sunset Commission, comprising five state representatives, five senators and two members of the public, is charged with recommending whether state agencies should be reauthorized by the Legislature and how they might do their jobs better.
This is the third time in six years that the Sunset Commission has examined the state’s oil and gas regulator; previous reviews in 2011 and 2013 were unable to win the endorsement of the Legislature because of controversial proposals such as limiting campaign contributions to commissioners, who are elected to six-year terms.
On Thursday, the Sunset Commission didn’t even discuss two of the most contentious items on its list, transferring the oversight of gas utilities to the Public Utilities Commission and requiring oil and gas companies to post larger bonds to cover the costs of plugging and cleaning up abandoned wells. The oil and gas industry opposed both recommendations.
The Sunset panel also dismissed a proposal to change the agency’s name to the Texas Energy Resources Commission, which many critics said would help raise the visibility of an agency that oversees the state’s most important industry. The Railroad Commission was created in the 19th century to oversee railroads in Texas and later took on regulation of oil and gas, but kept the name, even after the federal government assumed oversight
of railroads.
The final report of the Sunset Commission will largely reflect proposals supported by the Railroad Commission, including funding to digitize violations data to allow for easier access and better tracking.
Environmentalists also cheer a recommendation that the Railroad Commission consider seismic data from a state-funded program in its regulatory decisions.
Several studies have blamed deep wells used to dispose wastewater from drilling operations for an increase in earthquakes near oil and gas fields.
But the Sunset Commission
“It by no means meets the needs of the people of this state. Sometimes it’s about baby steps.” Robin Schneider, Texas Campaign for the Environment
also didn’t discuss proposals to address broader concerns about the wastewater disposal wells.
The commission dropped modest recommendations that would have required monthly instead of annual reports on the wells and raised permit fees.
Rep. Richard Pena Raymond, D-Laredo, the commission member who made the proposals, did not respond to requests seeking comment on why his recommendations were dropped.
Robin Schneider, executive director of Texas Campaign for the Environment, an advocacy group, said the Sunset Commission’s recommendations would at best be a small step forward in improving the Railroad Commission’s oversight of the oil and gas industry.
“It by no means meets the needs of the people of this state,” she said. “Sometimes it’s about baby steps.”