When you vote for a Texas Railroad commissioner, what are you voting for?

This election season, Texans will once again have an opportunity that most people in the U.S. don’t have: They will vote on who should regulate the state’s oil and gas industry, one of the largest fossil fuel industries in the world.

Most states appoint energy regulators like this. Not in Texas. The three members of the Texas Railroad Commission are elected statewide, and one of them, Chairwoman Christi Craddick, is up for re-election.

But what exactly does the Railway Commission do? And what does this name mean?

First the name

In the 19th century, railroads wielded unprecedented power. They controlled trade by setting the cost of shipping goods. Entire communities lived or died depending on where a railroad company built its tracks and which areas it chose to bypass.

This power angered many people, including many Texas farmers and ranchers who disliked the railroads’ monopolies in transporting their goods to market.

Farmers demanded regulation, and in 1891 the Railroad Commission of Texas was formed.

When the commission was formed, it did what its name suggests: it regulated the railroads.

The commission was originally an appointed board, but the same agricultural interests that created the agency wanted it to be democratically elected. They thought their voting rights could ensure that they always had a say in Commission policy.

As the Texas oil industry blossomed in the early 1900s, state lawmakers saw many similarities between regulating railroads and pipelines. After all, both are fixed pieces of infrastructure that are used to transport goods.

So the Railroad Commission also began regulating pipelines. From then on, the commission also took over the regulation of oil and gas operations. Eventually, regulation of the railways was stopped altogether.

Texas produces more oil and gas than most countries; This made the Railway Commission a globally important government office.

What we have today is a government regulator, considered one of the most important authorities overseeing energy and therefore climate policy worldwide, with a completely strange name.

But their leaders are still elected in a popular vote.

That which cannot be renamed

Why not change the name?

“People have, of course, asked me about it in my day,” former railroad commissioner Charles Matthews told KUT in a 2018 interview.

“I said … I did a little research, and anyone who ever runs for the Railroad Commission and says they want to change the name has lost the race,” he said. “So if I want to win, I don’t have to be there to do it.”

Matthews left the commission in 2005. Since then, some successful politicians appear to have supported a name change. There were also efforts by state lawmakers to change the name, but that never happened.

Many people say the reason a name change never happened is because the oil and gas industry was against it.

“The Legislature has been trying to change it, and the industry just brought up Cain,” Matthews said. “They like the fact that a name is so unique. It’s special for Texas. They don’t want to change it.

Many say one reason the industry opposes a name change is that it strengthens the industry’s position in its efforts to influence the commission.

“If it’s not known exactly what in the rest of the state [the commission] “That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you want to influence the commission,” said David Prindle, a professor emeritus at UT who wrote a book called “Petroleum, Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission.”

Authority far beyond the oil field

In its current form, the Railroad Commission tracks and regulates oil and gas exploration and production. It is responsible for ensuring that oilfield operations cease properly when they become inactive. It adjudicates disputes between oil field operators.

The commission would also enforce safety regulations for pipelines and natural gas distribution systems that reach people’s homes and businesses.

This latter part of the work received widespread attention recently when a natural gas pipeline exploded in the community of Deer Park, outside Houston.

Beyond pipeline safety, the commission also helps set natural gas tariffs. In Austin, for example, the city council rejected a recent gas rate increase proposed by the for-profit gas utility. The Railway Commission will now decide on the approval.

Because much of the electricity we use in Texas comes from natural gas-fired power plants, the Railroad Commission is also heavily involved in the operation of the state’s electric grid. This became a major problem during the 2021 winter storm and power outage, when failures in the natural gas pipeline system led to gas shortages at power plants.

Because of the amount of fossil fuels produced, exported and burned in Texas, the Railroad Commission’s regulatory approach is also critically important to efforts to curb carbon emissions worldwide. But it has traditionally resisted new laws and often joined lawsuits challenging federal environmental regulations and protections. Recently the Commission lost a lawsuit against Block new regulations on methane pollution.

The commission’s controversial approval of lighting natural gas leaking from oil field infrastructure has caught the attention of people far from the Texas border.

Economy and capture

Additionally, the Texas economy must also be considered when choosing a railroad commissioner.

The oil and gas sector’s impact on the state’s financial health and job market is immense, something candidates for railroad commissioner often remind voters of.

“They still see themselves as managers of the Texas economy, and in order to manage the Texas economy, they want to help and promote a healthy petroleum industry,” Prindle said.

But many say this tendency to support the oil and gas sector long ago spilled over into regulatory capture, that is, when a government regulator is controlled by the very industry it is supposed to regulate.

Part of this is due to the way commissioners are elected.

When the commission was first created, Prindle said, Texas Gov. James Hogg wanted it to be an appointed agency because he feared the industry would flood Railroad Commission candidates with money “and essentially buy elections.” “.

In hindsight, Prindle said, “We can say… he was right!”

That’s because under Texas law, commissioners can accept campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. And it’s a lot of money.

“We found that 66% of the commissioners’ campaign contributions came from the same companies they oversee on the commission,” Virginia Palacio, head of the watchdog group Commission Shift, told KUT. “We looked at different decision-making moments and found that companies donated immediately before or after a key decision-making moment, or while the Commission was deciding a controversial case in which they were involved.”

Beyond campaign contributions, commissioners may also simply draw income from oil and gas holdings, investments and royalty checks, sometimes from the very companies with which they have government business.

Commissioners say it’s legal under state law as long as they disclose it.

Palacios believes the commissioners are breaking the rules by not recusing themselves. However, so far these rules have not been enforced.

Aspiring commissioners talk a lot about the perceived conflict of interest and corruption among incumbent commissioners when they call for agency reform.

Acting RCC Chairman this year Christi Craddick is running for re-election. The title means that she chairs the meetings of the three-member commission.

Because Railroad Commission elections are staggered, commissioners have typically given the chairman position to whoever is next running for re-election to help them burnish their credentials on the campaign trail.

Craddick, like every other statewide elected official, is a Republican.

Her challengers include the Democratic candidate Katherine Culbertan oil and gas process safety engineer, libertarian Hawk Dunlapan oil well control specialist and Green Party candidate Eddie Espinozaa retired school teacher.

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