Tara Jones, who lives half a mile from the Blackhorn Environmental oil and gas waste facility near Orange Grove, says she spent almost a year learning the states regulatory rules and investigating the commercial dumping operation., The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
When the stench reached her house, it became a regular nuisance for Jones, her husband Calvert and their two children — to the degree that she started keeping a written log. She complained to the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates the oil, gas and pipeline industries. After one especially bad night, when the odor gave her a headache and made her sick to her stomach, she intensified her efforts.
Jones and her neighbors aren’t the only Texans frustrated with the Railroad Commission, complaining that its policing of waste disposal is weak and doesn’t protect public health. The agency, led by three elected commissioners, has been criticized for years by advocacy groups and some lawmakers who accuse the commission of being too cozy with the industries it regulates.
Critics say those procedures are too lenient, allowing for lax oversight. Preliminary drafts of the rule obtained by Commission Shift through public records requests show the Railroad Commission is essentially “taking their current operating procedure and just codifying it,” Palacios said. She added, “We definitely don’t see any of the public protections in this rule that we would want to see.”
Wright ran for office “to serve the citizens of our state … not for personal gain,” Krejci said, adding that his boss’s experience in the industry “is an asset to the state of Texas.” A contentious part of its regulatory landscape is the disposal of oilfield waste, created by drilling operations and related industries. The Railroad Commission issues permits to commercial dumping operations, waste pits and drying pads where oil and gas producers pay to dispose of potentially dangerous drilling byproducts. These include fracking water, sand and storage tanks.
“Depending on who’s looking at it at the agency, they might find a problem, or they might rubber-stamp it,” Troutman said. “Agencies are required to issue permits pretty quickly.” Two wells of the Paxton Water Supply Corporation, shown here in January 2023, sit about 1,000 yards away from a controversial proposed dump site.The controversy over waste facilities was evident In February, when the commission’s chair, Christi Craddick, was testifying before a state Senate committee about the commission’s budget. State Sen.
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