{"id":28240,"date":"2013-05-23T17:22:58","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T22:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=28240"},"modified":"2013-05-23T17:22:59","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T22:22:59","slug":"will-texas-lawmakers-save-the-railroad-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/05\/23\/will-texas-lawmakers-save-the-railroad-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Texas Lawmakers Save the Railroad Commission?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Graphic by Todd Wiseman\/Texas Tribune<\/p>

Unless the legislature acts soon, the lead oil and gas regulator in Texas could cease to exist.<\/p><\/div>\n

From the Texas Tribune:\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n

If lawmakers do not act soon, the agency that regulates oil and gas in Texas could disappear.<\/p>\n

A legislative review of that agency, the Texas Railroad Commission, failed this session, and a measure that would keep the agency alive until 2015 or later doesn’t include any reference to the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means the Railroad Commission will go away,\u201d said state Rep. Dennis Bonnen<\/a>, R-Angleton.<\/p>\n

Bonnen chairs the Sunset Advisory Commission, which is charged with periodically assessing and renewing the charters of state agencies. The RRC’s “sunset” legislation failed in 2011, and lawmakers extended the life of the agency until this year. It didn’t work; the legislation that would have renewed the agency\u2019s charter and made additional changes\u00a0has already failed<\/a>\u00a0again.<\/p>\n

What’s more,\u00a0House Bill 1675<\/a>, this year’s version of the \u201csafety net\u201d that rescued the RRC and other agencies last year, doesn’t include the Railroad Commission this time. Unless lawmakers add it in the final days of the session, the agency will go out of business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite Bonnen\u2019s pessimism, others say that there is a way forward for the agency. Lawmakers who meet in conference committee to reconcile House and Senate versions of HB 1675 could take special measures to extend the life of the RRC for two more years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident that we will get it solved,\u201d said state Sen. Troy Fraser<\/a>, R-Horseshoe Bay, who noted the importance of the agency. “There are a couple of vehicles to resolve it.” One is the conference committee on House Bill 1675, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously [we\u2019d] like to get it resolved in the regular session,\u201d Fraser said.<\/p>\n

Reached by phone on Monday in Washington, D.C., where he was testifying before a U.S. Senate committee, Railroad Commission Chairman\u00a0Barry Smitherman<\/a>\u00a0declined to discuss the issue: \u201cI never comment on ongoing legislation. …We\u2019ll just have to wait and see how it all works out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked why the agency was not included in HB 1675, the safety-net bill, Bonnen referred to the fact that it had been through the \u00a0process two consecutive times \u2014 in this Legislature and two years ago \u2014 but the legislation to make changes to the agency failed both times. Bonnen and other lawmakers have sought some ethics reforms for the agency, which is headed by three elected commissioners who take contributions from the oil and gas industry. But the commissioners have argued against the reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are a lot of people around the Capitol that believe that the agency should only go through the sunset process twice,\u201d Bonnen said. If that doesn\u2019t work, \u201cmaybe \u2026 we don\u2019t need that agency anymore.\u201d He said he had feared that \u201cdue to conduct of the commission and their executive director that [sunset] legislation wouldn\u2019t pass.\u201d They had lobbied against the sunset legislation, he said.<\/p>\n

Asked who would take up oil and gas regulatory responsibilities if the Railroad Commission were to disband, Bonnen said,\u00a0\u201cWe have agencies in the state that could take over those responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in their stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\n
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune<\/a> at http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2013\/05\/23\/will-texas-lawmakers-safe-railroad-commission\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Texas Tribune:\u00a0 If lawmakers do not act soon, the agency that regulates oil and gas in Texas could disappear. A legislative review of that agency, the Texas Railroad Commission, failed this session, and a measure that would keep the agency alive until 2015 or later doesn’t include any reference to the agency. \u201cIt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":28243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[50,310],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28249,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28240\/revisions\/28249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}