The three Texas Railroad Commissioners get their campaign coffers replenished by the industry they regulate, and lawmakers carrying the RRC Sunset legislation seem determined to make a change. The commissioners are equally determined to hold firm.

A decision by the Texas Railroad Commission has paved the way for an open-pit coal mine to begin operating on the Texas-Mexico border. Opponents of the plan are weighing their options, which include making a request for another hearing.

The Texas Railroad Commission regulates one of the most advanced industries in the world — oil and gas drilling. Yet the commission’s software systems, many of its rules and even its name are from another era. But change is coming.

Lawmakers took a close look at the state's Railroad Commission during a hearing this week, focusing many of their questions on proposals to limit gas and oil companies from giving political donations to commissioners.

Full video of my 12/13 TribLive conversation with Barry Smitherman, the chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.

At this morning's TribLive conversation, Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman talked about the economic impact of the state's various shale plays, as well as concerns about the negative effects on roads, water and air quality.

This month, the state's Sunset Advisory Commission released a series of recommendations on how the Railroad Commission — which governs the oil and gas industry, not railroads — could better serve the state. Among the recommendations: a name change.

The four Republican Railroad Commission candidates sound remarkably similar on the big-ticket topics. But that doesn't mean they will vote the same way on everything once they get into office.

With oil production on the rise in Texas, drilling companies are increasingly burning off the natural gas that surfaces with the oil, because they can't get pipelines in place fast enough to transport it.

Aguilar on the House District 77 primary, Batheja on the HD-101 and SD-9 primaries, Galbraith on the GOP candidates for two Railroad Commission slots, Grissom on the latest in the Kerry Max Cook case, Hamilton on Texas A&M's new accountability website, Murphy and M. Smith on how much superintendents make, Ramsey interviews a would-be Democratic Party chair, Root on that nice Ted Nugent, M. Smith on the resignation of the state's education commissioner and Tan on the continuing court fight over Planned Parenthood: The best of our best content from April 30 to May 4, 2012.

At the Trib's April 13 energy symposium at the University of Houston, Railroad Comission Chairman Barry Smitherman sketched out his vision of an energy plan for the state.

One overriding theme unifies the multiple Republican candidates for two Texas Railroad Commission slots: The Environmental Protection Agency has overreached and must be scaled back.

Former Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Commissioner Buddy Garcia will fill a seat on the Railroad Commission that was vacated by Elizabeth Ames Jones, who is now a candidate for state Senate. 

A brawl is brewing in South Texas, but this one has nothing to do with cartels or drug smuggling — it's an environmental battle over a proposed surface-mining site that some Eagle Pass residents worry will ruin their way of life.

Since Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones moved to San Antonio to run for Senate, she shouldn't be collecting a paycheck for a job that requires her to live in Austin, according to a lawsuit filed this afternoon.

Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is making a run for a state Senate seat. But her opponent in the GOP primary, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, is challenging her on residency. That dispute is among this week's top political news items.

Starting Feb. 1, drillers will have to report many of the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing. But a less-publicized part of the regulation is what some water experts are most interested in: the mandatory disclosure of the amount of water needed to “frack” each well.

Rules requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in the controversial hydraulic fracturing process will take effect in Texas in February, the Texas Railroad Commission decided on Tuesday.