Chairman Smitherman States the Summer NARUC Committee Meetings in Dallas were Highly Successful

AUSTIN—Railroad Commission of Texas Chairman Barry T. Smitherman, who also serves as Chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Gas Committee, applauded the success of NARUC’s recent summer meetings held in Dallas.

“The NARUC Summer Committee Panels were highly attended and extremely informative,” Chairman Smitherman said. “We brought together regulators, industry and community stakeholders from across the United States to collaborate in panels that addressed important challenges and issues facing gas utilities, pipeline safety, environmental regulations, and the harmonization of gas and electric generation. 

“This meeting was historical because of its venue on the edge of the Barnett Shale during a time of extraordinary oil and gas development in Texas,” Smitherman said. “We warmly welcomed our friends from around the country to our great state.”

Preceding the NARUC Summer Committee meetings, Chairman Smitherman orchestrated a working rig site tour for Gas Committee members and other energy regulators.

“It is important for commissioners from the rest of the country to have a personal understanding of gas exploration and production,” Smitherman said. “This hands-on experience may help further the investment and use of this clean-burning, American product.  We were excited to share the Texas gas experience with them and hope they can carry this good message home to their respective states.”

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Chairman Barry Smitherman was appointed to the Railroad Commission of Texas in July 2011, and was elected Chairman in February 2012. In November 2012, Chairman Smitherman won a statewide election to the Commission with 74 percent of the vote, receiving more than 4.5 million votes. Chairman Smitherman currently serves as Texas’ representative on the Southern States Energy Board, and as Chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Gas Committee. He is on the Visiting Committee of the Bureau of Economic Geology with the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas School of Law Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law. He served two terms in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee, and was on the Public Utility Commission of Texas from April 2004 through July 2011.