On Tuesday, the Texas Railroad Commission unanimously approved new environmental rules for the state’s oil and gas industry. The new state rules are expected to impose new costs and make the state’s oil and gas industry less productive in 2025, even as the incoming Trump administration promises to cut such red tape nationally.
All three commissioners are Republicans, elected statewide to staggered six-year terms, but the new rules were crafted to benefit the environmental lobby rather than the state’s economy. Their new rule was proposed under the pretense of addressing pollution and safety issues, which advocates and opponents alike said would make it more expensive for oil and gas producers in Texas.
Leading up to and since the November election, President Donald Trump has promised to roll back rules and regulations seen as impeding the “drill, baby, drill” ethos of his domestic energy program.
None of the three Republican commissioners—Wayne Christian, Christi Craddick, and Jim Wright—responded to inquiries from Texas Scorecard about the rule’s impact on the Texas economy and President Trump’s national energy agenda.
Comments submitted by various oil and gas operators before the vote expressed surprise that the commission would even consider such a rule. For example, the owners of Momentum Operating, based in Albany, Texas, wrote that the proposal ignores “significant regional geographic, geologic and ecologic differences in Texas” as well as the “physical, economic and operational differences” in the industry.
In a press release after the vote, Wright described the process as an effort “modernize” the commission’s rules. Christian described opposition to the push as coming from “radical environmental groups,” despite supportive comments from leftwing groups like the Sierra Club and Commission Shift. He described the measure as “commonsense, balanced regulation” for the industry.
Nate Dunning of the Young Conservatives of Texas had described the rules as anything but balanced.
“This will hurt families, businesses, and communities that depend on the industry for jobs, stability, and energy security.”
