Michael Bloomberg gives $2.6 million to Texas Democrat running for railroad commissioner
The New York billionaire donated to Chrysta Castañeda in her bid to flip a seat on the all-GOP commission that regulates Texas' oil and gas industry. Full Story
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![Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg speaks to supporters during a campaign event at the Buffalo Soldier Museum …]()
Credit: Casey Jackson for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Democrats are successfully suing to kick Green Party candidates off the November ballot
Democrats won legal rulings Wednesday blocking Green Party nominees for U.S. Senate, railroad commissioner and the 21st Congressional District from appearing on the November ballot. Full Story
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![T-Shirts for sale at the Green Party Presidential Convention in Houston on Aug. 5, 2016.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick says recovering from oil and gas downturn "is going to be painful"
Craddick told The Texas Tribune in a live interview that a global price war and the coronavirus pandemic will continue hampering the state's economy and budget. Full Story
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![At center, Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick during a hearing at the capitol.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas agency won't cut oil production despite cratering prices
Two global crises have brought unusual attention to Texas oil regulators, who decided against taking action some producers wanted. One regulator said, "Politics win, Texans lose." Full Story
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![Midland's skyline is a backdrop for another pump jack that has ceased to move its head as oil prices continue to drop.]()
Credit: Ben Powell for The Texas Tribune -
Watch: Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick discusses the effects of the coronavirus on the oil and gas industry
We sat down for a live virtual event with Craddick to discuss her take on oil prices, Texas’ energy industry and the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Full Story
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Analysis: You didn’t think a pandemic could stop highway planning in Texas, did you?
All eyes in Texas are on the coronavirus and the state government's response to it. But some of the biggest state agencies are still doing what they always do, like building highways and debating oil and gas regulations. Full Story
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![Light traffic on I-35 during the coronavirus pandemic on April 6, 2020.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas oil regulators take no action on production
A day after oil prices crashed, The Texas Railroad Commission opted against taking action to impose limits on oil producers. Full Story
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![An oil pump jack during a storm in Refugio County in 2017.]()
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Texas' oil and gas regulators aren't ready to cut production yet. They're not even sure how it would work if they did.
The Railroad Commission, which oversees the state's oil and gas industry, took more than 10 hours of testimony about whether the agency should lower production as the coronavirus lowers demand. Full Story
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![Looking west, a lone pump jack sees the sun dip below the horizon Saturday April 11, 2020 as oil prices continue to drop, ca…]()
Credit: Ben Powell for The Texas Tribune -
Coronavirus in Texas: Hard-line conservatives want stay-at-home order relaxed; Paxton issues opinion on temporary tax exemption
Our staff is closely tracking developments on the new coronavirus in Texas. Check here for live updates. Full Story
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![A coronavirus related message on the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Austin on April 12, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
As oil price crisis grips the globe, small Texas producers feel the ripple effects
Plummeting demand and an international price dispute have forced Texas oil producers to begin shutting wells. Full Story
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Texas regulators contemplating a reduction in oil production amid coronavirus crisis
A Texas Railroad Commission official said no decision has been made yet and the agency is looking into options. Full Story
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![A worker waits to load a piece of pipe, or casing, that will be lowered into the well at a Chesapeake Energy drill site in D…]()
Credit: Tamir Kalifa for The Texas Tribune -
Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton concedes Republican primary in surprising upset
Sitton was elected in 2014 to the three-member board, which oversees Texas' oil and gas industry. Jim Wright, who beat him in an upset, owns an oilfield waste services company. Full Story
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![Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton at a hearing in Austin on Oct. 10, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
"It's a joke": Flaring expert finds big problems in report from Texas oil and gas regulator
"It looks more like a political manifesto to me," a Texas A&M professor said about a report from the Railroad Commission of Texas. Full Story
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![A gas flare burns bright on a production site northeast of Andrews, Texas.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune -
Pipeline giant sues Railroad Commission, alleging lax oversight of natural gas flaring
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
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![Sign indicating the presence of poison gas in Pecos County, Texas.]()
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Optimistic Democrats are lining up to run for Texas’ high courts in 2020
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
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![Judge Amy Clark Meachum kicks off her campaign for Texas Chief Justice at Threadgillâs in Austin on Oct. 29, 2019.]()
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Texas signed off on the restoration of this old mine. Now a leaky landfill is contaminating groundwater.
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
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![The Alcoa power plant near Rockdale on August 1, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Big coal gave a tiny Texas town free land. There’s a major catch.
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
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![A mound of toxic coal mine waste left by an energy company, Luminant, sits near farmland, homes and businesses in Sulphur Sp…]()
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Dallas attorney Chrysta Castañeda to challenge Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton
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
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![Chrysta Castañeda is a Democratic candidate for the Texas Railroad commission.]()
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A creek flowing to the Colorado River turned black. Now the state has sued the alleged polluter.
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
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![Contaminated black water flows through Skull Creek and crosses over a country road downstream from Inland Environmental & Re…]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Railroad commissioners voice doubts that Permian Basin flaring is more prevalent than reported
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
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![A gas flare burns bright on a production site northeast of Andrews, Texas.]()
Credit: Jerod Foster for The Texas Tribune