Tag Archives: Texas Railroad Commission

State news

Railroad Commission needs a name change … at least

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The Texas Railroad Commission used to regulate the railroads.

It also set trucking regulations.

It did all that while also regulating the state’s mammoth oil and natural gas industry.

That was then. In the here and now, though, the three-member Railroad Commission only regulates oil and natural gas. Rail and trucking regulation has been handed off.

This now begs the question I’ve been asking for more than 30 years observing and covering Texas politics and government: Why is this agency still called the “Texas Railroad Commission”?

The Railroad Commission came under scrutiny this week in Austin. The state’s SunsetĀ Advisory Commission is examining the way the RRC does its job and whether it’s worth remaining active.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/08/22/texas-lawmakers-push-back-railroad-commission/?utm_campaign=trib-social&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=1471911433

It’s fascinating in the extreme to me, though, that lawmakers would rush to defend the name of the organization that no longer has a thing to do with making sure the trains run on time.

They are clinging to that thing called “tradition.”

I keep coming back to the question: Why? Why keep the vise grip on something that makes no sense?

A former railroad commissioner, Elizabeth Ames, once pitched the notion of changing the name of the panel to something that reflects more accurately its actual duties. If memory serves, she rather liked the idea of calling it the Texas Energy Commission. The idea, which never really was argued seriously in the Legislature, went nowhere.

Ames is no longer in office. Those who now comprise the Railroad Commission seem wedded to the tradition that hides its duties behind this silly misnomer.

I couldĀ pose the followingĀ statement toĀ 100 people at random in Amarillo: Please tell me the duties of the Texas Railroad Commission. I would bet real American money that most of them would include “rail regulation” in their response.

C’mon, folks. Change the name!

political news, State news

Get back into the game, Jerry Patterson

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The Texas Railroad Commission is a misnamed panel that does important work for the state.

It no longer regulates railroads. It does regulate the Texas energy industry.

So it is with some anticipation that I read today that Railroad Commissioner David Porter won’t seek re-election next year to the three-member panel.

Patterson may run for RRC.

His decision is spurring some activity among Texas Republicans. One of them happens to be someone I happen to respect and admire very much.

He is Jerry “The Gun Guy” Patterson, the former Texas land commissioner and a one-time state senator from the Houston area.

Patterson is a proud Marine and Vietnam War veteran. He also has delightful self-deprecating sense of humor; he once told me he graduated in the “top 75 percent of my class at Texas A&M.”

Patterson also was the author during the 1995 Texas Legislature of the state’s concealed-handgun-carry law. I opposed the law at the time, but my view on it has “evolved” over time. I am not an active supporter of the concealed-carry law; I just don’t oppose it.

Patterson did a great job running the General Land Office. He helped he GLO provide low-interest home loans for Texas military veterans.

I cannot speak to any expertise he might have on oil and gas issues. I do, though, respect him greatly as a dedicated public servant — and I hope he decides to get back in the game.

 

State news

Railroad Commission has nothing to do with trains

Elizabeth Ames Jones used to serve on the Texas Railroad Commission.

Once, while visiting Amarillo, she paid a visit to the Globe-News, where I worked as editorial page editor.

During our conversation, the Republican former state legislator, made a fascinating and totally sensible proposal. The Railroad Commission needed to change its name. It has nothing to do with railroads or trains. It doesn’t have anything to do with trucking regulations, which it used to have. The name “Railroad Commission” is an archaic term that has zero relevance to what the agency does today, which is regulate fossil fuel production.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/20/texas-mulls-railroad-commission-name-change-again/

Why not change the name, she said, to something like the Texas Energy Regulatory Commission — or TERC, for short?

Why not, indeed?

The RRC is the state’s oldest regulatory agency, but as the Texas Tribune noted, it scrapped railroad regulation long ago.

That hasn’t persuaded the hidebound interests who still run many things in Austin to change the name of an agency devoted to energy-related issues.

It’s not an easy solution, as the Texas Tribune reports: “The change would require an amendment to the Texas Constitution, since the document mentions the agency by name. That means two-thirds of lawmakers in each chamber must approve before putting the question to Texas voters.”

Why not refer it to the voters in the form of a constitutional amendment proposal? The Legislature needs a super-majority of lawmakers to do it. My hunch is that too many of them are strangely devoted to the Railroad Commission, perhaps out of nostalgia if no other reason.

If Texas is going to continue its evolution into a modern state that recognizes that change occurs here from time to time, then it should change the long-ago obsolete name of an important regulatory agency.

Oil and natural gas are important to this state’s economy. Why not give itsĀ governing agency a name that everyone would recognize?

 

environmental news, State news

Perry builds wind energy in Texas

Let it never be said that I am such a blind partisan that I fail to recognize the good things that politicians of the “other party” have accomplished.

Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry is about to leave office and the Texas Tribune is doing a great job of looking back at the governor’s huge legacy.

All those wind turbines one sees turning along the High Plains or along the South PlainsĀ and theĀ Rolling Plains down yonder? They’re a big part of the Perry legacy, to which IĀ will provideĀ high praise.

http://apps.texastribune.org/perry-legacy/energy/

The Tribune notes thatĀ most of theĀ turbines didn’t exist when Perry took his initial oath of office in December 2000. They do now, in a big way.

As the Tribune notes: “In 2000, wind farms composed just 116 megawatts of capacity on the stateā€™s main electric grid. That number has since soared to more than 11,000 megawatts, while wind fuels about 10 percent of all generation. (On average, one megawatt-hour of wind energy can power 260 typical Texas homes for an hour.)

ā€œ’His legacy on the fossil side of things is very sound, but on the wind side, heā€™s done tremendous things to move the state forward,’ said Jeff Clark, executive director of the Austin-based Wind Coalition, an advocacy group. ‘Under Rick Perry, wind in Texas has moved from alternative energy to being a mainstream component of our power supply.’ā€

Think of how vast this supply of energy is in Texas, particularly along the Caprock, where the wind blows incessantly — and where it will blow for as long as Planet Earth exists. I reckon that’ll be a good while, agreed?

Texas has become the nation’s No. 1 wind-energy-producing state, supplanting California at the top of the heap.

Perry’s predecessor as governor, George W. Bush, signed a bill in 1999 that deregulated the electric sector, opening the door for the development of wind energy. Perry would later sign legislation mandating an increase in wind energy production. The state has delivered in a big way.

Here’s the Tribune: ā€œ’That we were able to build thousands of miles of high-capacity transmission from West Texas to the Panhandle without landowners marching on the Capitol with pitchforks, itā€™s pretty remarkable,’ said Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman, whom Perry appointed to the Public Utility Commission in 2004 and reappointed in 2007. ‘And the governor had our back on that.’ā€

Rick Perry isn’t known as an environmentalist, but the wind energy that has developed on his watch has gone a long way toward conserving fossil fuels. It’s also producing arguably the cleanest energy possible.

Well done, governor.

 

Uncategorized

Russian oil dependence? Here? In Texas?

This tidbit just popped in over the transom from a conservative friend of mine who lives in up yonder in Gray County, Texas.

He received an invitation from Ryan Sitton, a Republican candidate for Texas railroad commissioner, to attend an event in which Sitton was going to extol his efforts to wean the nation of its “dependence on Russian oil.”

My friend is perplexed. So am I.

Neither of us was aware that Texas and the United States had a “dependence” on Russian crude.

He flashed the invitation to me electronically. Sure enough, that’s what Sitton said.

I looked at the list of Sitton endorsements and saw some familiar names. Former Amarillo oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens is on it; so is Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman and former RRC chair Elizabeth Ames Jones.

Do they know something the rest of the world doesn’t know, that we have grown dependent on Russian oil?

I looked it up. The information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is a bit dated, but in 2007, 3.4 percent of U.S. oil imports came from Russia. Our biggest supplier then was Canada, with whom we share the world’s longest unprotected border.

I’ve been pondering this for a bit. Since 2007, our oil imports have declined. The United States is now consuming more domestic oil than it is importing. The oil boom that exploded in West Texas has reignited here. Try getting a hotel room in the Permian Basin. You’ll be paying through the news for a room at a Motel 6. Why is that? Drilling contractors have gobbled up lodging space.

I haven’t even mentioned the shale oil boom in North Dakota, which is remaking life as they’ve known in that rural part of America.

So, what’s Ryan Sitton talking about? Russian oil dependence? The young man needs some counseling.

Thanks, my friend in Gray County, for bringing this to light.

Uncategorized

Texas right wing at war with itself

If you think the conservative wing of the Texas Republican Party — which is pretty conservative from top to bottom as it is — is locking arms in a unified battle … think again.

Some mail I received yesterday and today suggests a serious civil war within the party. Now I will explain.

Four campaign fliers have come to our house in the past two days. They involve Ryan Sitton and Wayne Christian, two men running for the GOP nomination for Texas railroad commissioner.

Sitton and Christian both proclaim themselves to be proud conservatives, one of whom will be nominated next Tuesday when the statewide runoff election occurs.

They both feature themselves standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the current conservative pooh bah of Texas political officeholders, Sen. Ted Cruz. Sitton’s material implies a Cruz endorsement. But wait. Christian’s card today implied more or less the same thing. “Wayne Christian stood with Ted Cruz when others would not,” Christian’s campaign card declares right over a picture with Christian and Cruz standing closely together while grinning for the camera.

Another flier today came from the Young Conservatives of Texas, which listed its preferred candidates for the May 27 GOP runoff. Who’s name is listed under railroad commissioner? Wayne Christian.

OK, that settles it. Right? Wrong.

Another flier also arrived today from … Conservative Republicans of Texas.

That group, based out of Houston, says Christian is “wrong on energy and wrong for Texas.” The flier also notes that Christian is “under fire for pushing green energy mandates and Solyndra-like subsidies.” The text on the flier says that “Christian’s mandate effort received support from liberal tree huggers.”

Green energy mandates? Oh … my … goodness. We can’t have that. We simply cannot have a railroad commissioner advocating for environmentally friendly energy sources to, um, protect the planet.

Whatever.

Christian still is buddies with Ted Cruz. So is Sitton.

Both of these candidates proclaim themselves ready to out-conservative the other guy.

Hurry up and get here, Runoff Election Day. I’m ready for some real knock-downs between actual conservatives and actual liberals.

Uncategorized

Now it’s Smitherman standing up for gun owners

Barry Smitherman is the latest Texas politicians to state the obvious.

He’s all for the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the one that guarantees Americans the right to own firearms.

My reaction to that? Duh!

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/11/20/smitherman-focuses-second-amendment-new-web-ad/

Smitherman, a Republican, currently serves on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, the agency that regulates the oil and natural gas industry in Texas. He wants to become the state’s next attorney general. Smitherman’s web ad proclaims his undying support for the Second Amendment.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, another Republican, recently posted a web ad that says the same thing as he seeks to become the state’s lieutenant governor.

I’m trying to look for the courage it took Smitherman to declare his support for gun owners. Texas isn’t a lot of other states. Gun ownership is virtually a given here. Our state’s popular culture practically requires people to own guns. Texas was among the first states to enact a concealed handgun carry law.

Barry Smitherman is a sophisticated individual. He stands a very good chance of being elected attorney general.

He cannot go wrong by declaring he supports Texans’ right to own guns. Put another way, Smitherman has exhibited a profound command of the obvious.

Uncategorized

Unborn babies would vote Republican?

Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman is reaching deeply into the darkest corners of some rhetorical warehouse for a recent comment on abortion, politics and related matters.

Smitherman is running for the Republican nomination for Texas attorney general. He told a Texas anti-abortion group that most unborn babies would vote Republican.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/30/smitherman-unborn-babies-would-have-voted-republic/

Smitherman was the keynote speaker of the Alliance for Life meeting in mid-August. An abortion-rights activist, Jessica Luther, called the remark a “strange statement.” Meanwhile, Smitherman spokesman Allen Blakemore, said his boss was merely citing a “statistic,” given that Texas is a heavily Republican state.

I’m trying to figure out precisely what Smitherman’s message is intended to convey. If it was meant to state the obvious, as Blakemore noted, I find it an odd expression. I’m inclined to go a little farther than how Luther described it. It sounds downright weird.