Livestream: Christi Craddick at TribLive
We're livestreaming Texas Tribune CEO and Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith's TribLive conversation with Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick.
Full StoryThe Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) is a state agency with regulatory jurisdiction over the oil and gas industry, pipeline transporters, the natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline industry, natural gas utilities, the LP-gas industry, and coal and uranium surface mining operations.
Railroad Commissioners are elected to six-year terms with one Commissioner seeking election every two years.
The Railroad Commission's ...
We're livestreaming Texas Tribune CEO and Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith's TribLive conversation with Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick.
Full StoryJust hours after Denton voted to ban hydraulic fracturing, the state’s General Land Office and biggest petroleum group filed off legal challenges to the new rule. The Texas Oil and Gas Association called the ban unconstitutional, saying it supercedes state law and deprives mineral owners of their property rights.
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A North Texas town on Tuesday became the state’s first city to ban hydraulic fracturing, setting up a high profile property clash likely to be fought in courtrooms and the Legislature.
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Texas Democrats maintained their 16-year losing streak on Election Day, with Republicans decisively sweeping all 15 statewide races on the ballot. As of late Tuesday, Republicans were leading by more than 20 percentage points in all of the statewide races. Texans have not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994.
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The legendary oilman reflects on plunging oil prices and the likelihood of another bust for Texas. Also, cranky folks in Denton and silly congressmen who don't understand how the energy industry works.
The state's drilling and fracking frenzy is raising questions about safety, earthquakes and water use. That's raising the stakes for this year's race for an open seat on the three-member Railroad Commission.
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Texas regulators on Tuesday tightened rules for wells that dispose of oilfield waste, a response to the spate of earthquakes that have rattled North Texas.
Full StoryThe energy track at the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival featured panel discussions on the state of the electric grid, what Mexican energy reform means for Texas, hydraulic fracturing and a closer look at the state's drilling boom. Listen to audio of each session.
Full StoryNordheim, population 307, is the site of one of the first organized protests in the heart of the Eagle Ford. Many of its residents are fighting to keep out a massive disposal facility for oil and gas waste — a sight that could become more common as energy producers search for places to dispose of their leftovers.
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In their efforts to regulate the wells that hold Texas' oilfield waste, state officials have found a surprising ally in the federal Environmental Protection Agency, long a political punching bag in Texas. Support for the plan, expressed in a letter this month, provides a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes collaboration between two agencies whose relationship often appears icy.
Full StoryTexas’ drilling bonanza can mean long-lasting windfalls for mineral owners in the state’s hottest shale plays – if those lessors make sure oil and gas operators pay what they promise. But doing so can prove incredibly difficult, as shown in a case the Texas Supreme Court will soon decide.
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Oil and gas activities – but not hydraulic fracturing – tainted drinking water wells atop North Texas’ Barnett Shale and Pennsylvania’s Marcellus formation, according to a new study. High levels of methane escaped poorly constructed natural gas wells and migrated into shallow aquifers.
Full StoryTexas Railroad Commissioner David Porter on Monday became the second of the state's three oil and gas regulators to raise concerns that Russia is waging a misinformation campaign against hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.
Full StoryA tainted water well in North Texas has already stirred national debate about the impacts of oil and gas production. Now it stars in a free speech dispute that has landed in the Texas Supreme Court – the biggest test of a state law meant to curb attempts to stifle public protest.
Texas should not bank on legal action to free it from the Obama administration’s proposal to tackle climate change, two officials with state regulators said Friday at a Public Utility Commission workshop, during which state regulators, industry representatives and energy experts wrangled with the complexities of the EPA proposal and debated how Texas should proceed.
Full StoryThe Railroad Commission's new chairman on the agency's dual role as an industry watchdog and champion, the push to ban fracking in Denton and the commission’s efforts on earthquakes and disposal wells.
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Two candidates for the Railroad Commission welcomed the agency's newly proposed requirements for disposal well applications, saying they were a good first step in addressing the spate of earthquakes that have shaken up parts of North Texas.
Full StoryTexas regulators have proposed new rules aimed at clearing up confusion about which pipelines are "common carriers" — a status that gives pipeline companies the right to claim private property using eminent domain. Pipeline operators oppose stricter regulations. Landowners say they want fair offers for their land.
Full StoryA North Texas town's effort to ban hydraulic fracturing may prompt an unprecedented showdown between two powerful rights: a city's authority to shape development inside its borders, and mineral owners' right to tap their resources. The outcome could reshape Texas law at a time when drilling is causing tension in some urban areas.
Full StorySeveral thwarted legislative proposals to overhaul the Texas Railroad Commission — the state's curiously named oil and gas regulator — have resurfaced in the race for an open seat on the commission, illustrating key differences between the candidates' priorities.
Full StoryVoters will decide whether Denton will become the state's first city to ban hydraulic fracturing after the city council rejected a proposal to ban the method of oil and gas extraction involving blasting apart rock with millions of gallons of chemical-laced water.
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Responding to questions about whether fracking has pushed methane to migrate into a North Texas neighborhood’s water supply, the Railroad Commission of Texas last month effectively shut the door on its investigation, saying that oil and gas drilling was not to blame. But independent geoscientists remained divided on the issue.
Full StoryA recent news report on the Railroad Commission of Texas' practice of preventing staffers from talking to members of the media has raised questions about the agency's transparency efforts, with a key Republican lawmaker and a Democratic candidate for railroad commissioner among those expressing concerns.
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While Barnett Shale gas producers deny any connection between methane-contaminated wells and their operations, a pair of scientists dispute that. They say test results just released by state regulators provide concrete evidence of a link.
Full StoryUPDATED: The Railroad Commission on Thursday sided with Marathon Oil Company’s bid to dismiss a groundwater conservation district’s protest of its application to inject waste into part of South Texas’ Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer.
Full StoryMore than six months after a series of earthquakes surprised parts of North Texas, the mayors of two shaken-up towns told a state House subcommittee Monday that the state has moved too slowly in investigating what’s behind the phenomenon.
More than six months after a series of earthquakes surprised parts of North Texas, the mayors of two shaken-up towns told a state House subcommittee Monday that the state has moved too slowly in investigating what’s behind the phenomenon.
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Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman lost his bid for attorney general, but he remains an oil and gas regulator and has sought industry help retiring campaign debts and perhaps landing a job. The potential for conflict may turn heads, but it's not an unusual situation, and Smitherman supporters say he is an ethical operator.
Full StoryA former Texas Railroad Commission chairman is helping Ryan Sitton fight back against conflict-of-interest allegations in the Republican primary runoff for an open seat on the commission. Meanwhile, Sitton is redirecting ethics questions to his opponent, Wayne Christian.
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