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About the elected seat: The Railroad Commission, one of Texas’ oldest regulatory agencies, oversees a constellation of energy infrastructure across the state. Its elected commissioners and staff are tasked with regulating oil and gas production, natural gas facilities, hydrogen, pipelines, coal and uranium surface mining. The agency has not regulated railroads since 2005. With several field offices across Texas, the commission inspects facilities, enforces penalties and reports to the Texas Legislature. More recently, the agency has also taken on regulating hydrogen storage and carbon dioxide injection and storage, as companies look to create alternate sources of energy and take advantage of federal financial incentives to recapture carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change.
What’s at stake: Far and away, Texas commands U.S. oil and gas. The industry drills more oil and other hydrocarbons than all the other states combined. This massive industry employs nearly half a million Texans and pays billions of dollars to local and state coffers. And it’s changing. Seeking to become more profitable, oil companies are evolving their business models to expand their ability to deliver natural gas — which powers electricity generation — to data centers. Oil companies are also set to build facilities designed to inject carbon dioxide underground to reduce air pollution. The commission will oversee and regulate these ventures. And as Texas becomes more extreme-weather prone, the agency is also responsible for ensuring that natural gas facilities are prepared to avoid shortages or incidents that could affect the state’s power grid and lead to widespread power outages.
