Texas Railroad Commission

Pipeline giant sues Railroad Commission, alleging lax oversight of natural gas flaring

by Kiah Collier

A subsidiary of Tulsa-based Williams Cos. is suing Texas' oil and gas regulatory agency after it approved a request from Dallas-based Exco Operating Co. to burn off natural gas from wells in South Texas while they were hooked up to Williams' pipeline system. Full Story 

Optimistic Democrats are lining up to run for Texas’ high courts in 2020

by Emma Platoff

The depth of the bench for non-marquee statewide races, like the state’s two high courts and the Railroad Commission, is a measure of how high Democratic hopes have soared ahead of the 2020 election. Full Story 

Texas signed off on the restoration of this old mine. Now a leaky landfill is contaminating groundwater.

by Kiah Collier, The Texas Tribune and Naveena Sadasivam, Grist

Alcoa has put its shuttered Sandow Mine site on the market for $250 million, advertising it as a country paradise. Testing has found that groundwater under a landfill in the middle of the property is contaminated with toxic heavy metals. Full Story 

Big coal gave a tiny Texas town free land. There’s a major catch.

by Kiah Collier, The Texas Tribune and Naveena Sadasivam, Grist

Sulphur Springs leaders say they want Luminant — Texas’ largest electricity generator — to leave in place a 120-foot-tall mound of excavated dirt at the site of a shuttered coal mine so they can build an amphitheater. But the soil contains potentially dangerous materials, according to state regulators. Full Story 

Dallas attorney Chrysta Castañeda to challenge Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton

by Patrick Svitek

Castañeda, a Democrat, is centering her 2020 campaign on the issue of flaring, or the burning of natural gas that companies do not move to market. Full Story 

A creek flowing to the Colorado River turned black. Now the state has sued the alleged polluter.

by Carlos Anchondo

Residents near Altair began complaining that Skull Creek reeked of chemicals. The Texas attorney general's office says a local company is to blame. Full Story 

Railroad commissioners voice doubts that Permian Basin flaring is more prevalent than reported

by Carlos Anchondo

The Environmental Defense Fund concluded that oil producers burned off more natural gas than they reported to the state. But Texas officials expressed skepticism of those findings during a state Senate hearing Wednesday. Full Story 

Report: Permian Basin oil producers flaring more natural gas than they told the state

by Kiah Collier

An analysis of government satellite data by the Environmental Defense Fund shows that the amount of natural gas that energy companies burned off in 2017 is twice as high as what they reported to state regulators. Full Story 

Did Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick break the law by pushing out the agency director? The attorney general can't say.

by Emma Platoff

Whether Christi Craddick violated the law last year in pushing the Texas Railroad Commission's executive director out of her post is "not a question we can resolve," Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote in an opinion released Thursday. Full Story 

Texas regulator says "misunderstanding" is making millennials shun oilfield jobs

by Kiah Collier

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian told House lawmakers on Wednesday that the biggest threat to a burgeoning oil boom is "the acceptance of the politically-correct-driven environmental anti-oil and gas science." Full Story 

New state-funded sensors are tracking earthquakes across Texas

by Shannon Najmabadi

A new interactive website from state-funded researchers is tracking tremors across Texas – part of an effort to understand the link between earthquakes and oil and gas production. Full Story 

Hey, Texplainer: Did the Railroad Commission chairwoman fire its executive director?

by Alex Samuels

After two members of the Railroad Commission's board sparred over the fate of the agency's executive director, questions arose about decision-making and transparency within the state agency. Full Story 

Texas railroad commissioner wants AG to weigh in on board chair's actions

by Shannon Najmabadi and Jim Malewitz

Two days after Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton and the board's chair, Christi Craddick, clashed publicly at a state meeting, Sitton is asking Attorney General Ken Paxton to weigh in on his colleague's actions. Full Story 

Craddick seeking another term on Railroad Commission

by Patrick Svitek

Craddick's announcement means that every non-judicial statewide official in Texas — all of them Republicans — has plans to seek re-election next year. Full Story 

Legislature passes much-criticized bill reforming oil and gas regulatory agency

by Kiah Collier

A Democratic senator on Tuesday made a last-ditch effort to beef up a bill aimed at reforming and reauthorizing the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency — legislation environmental groups and watchdogs have decried as toothless. Full Story 

Lawmakers try to add bathroom amendment to Railroad Commission bill

by Justin Dehn

In the Texas Political Roundup: Lawmakers attempt to add bathroom and immigration amendments to a Texas Railroad Commission bill, legislators are getting closer to a state budget, and how to interact with police may become required learning for Texas teens. Full Story 

After immigration and bathroom fights, House votes to keep Railroad Commission functioning

by Julián Aguilar and Alexa Ura

Immigration and bathrooms took over a good chunk of a floor debate on whether to keep the Texas Railroad Commission functioning until 2029. In the end lawmakers voted unanimously to tentatively send the bill to the Senate. Full Story 

Years after well explosion, Texas family still waiting for answers from agency

by Jim Malewitz

A North Texas family is still waiting for answers about whether nearby gas production caused their water well to explode and why the Railroad Commission seemed to miss early signs that something like this could happen in their community. Full Story 

Expect fewer man-made earthquakes in Texas, federal agency says

by Kiah Collier

The odds that a man-made earthquake will hit Texas this year have plummeted, according to new risk projections from the U.S. Geological Survey that are based on the amount of seismic activity that's occurred here in the past few years. Full Story 

House, Senate disagree on how to fund the state's oil and gas regulator

by Kiah Collier

Texas House and Senate leaders unveiled dueling budget proposals this week that are billions of dollars apart. Full Story