The Governor Called Lawmakers Back, but Not to Fix the Grid
We were disappointed to see that Governor Abbott didn’t list anything related to strengthening our electric grid, reducing utility bills, or reforming the Railroad Commission in the special legislative session agenda.
Winter power outages killed as many as 700 Texans and cost our state billions of dollars. Now summer heat is testing the shaky grid again.
Ten years ago, the Railroad Commission failed to heed recommendations from federal investigators to weatherize the gas supply chain. Lawmakers need to hold the agency accountable, setting firm deadlines for energy facilities to weatherize and assuring that penalties exceed the cost of any weatherization measures.
We encourage lawmakers to do everything in their power to strengthen the grid and push the Railroad Commission to enact stronger safeguards.
 We’re thrilled to introduce the new Commission Shift Deputy Director, Katherine Culbert. Katherine is a Texas transplant, originally from Upstate New York.
She is co-founder of K and K Process, which assists oil and gas companies in improving process and personnel safety and reducing environmental impacts. She has worked with numerous operating firms managing large safety and engineering projects.
In 2018, Katherine pivoted her focus to regulatory policy and earned an MS in Law from Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law. She has since worked extensively within the Railroad Commission’s purview of pipeline safety regulations.
Katherine is a graduate of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry with an undergraduate degree in Paper Science & Engineering and an MBA from the University at Albany. Katherine is a licensed Professional Engineer, a Six Sigma Green Belt, and a certified Project Management Professional.
At Commission Shift, Katherine will be diving into a number of important projects as we advance our work to reform this critically important state agency. Welcome Katherine!
Take Action 
Join Us at a Letter-Writing Party for Democracy The Texas legislature is back in session, and our voting access is under attack again with a political tug-of-war. The same energy companies that failed us in February are funding Texas officials to rig the game. We need to do everything in our power to stop this historic attack on our democracy and on our planet.
On Tuesday, July 27, join Commission Shift, Sierra Club, and Texas Campaign for the Environment at Letter Writing Workshop: Texas Voting Access and the Grid.
From 6 pm - 7 pm CT, we’ll hear more about the connection between big energy and Texas’ voter suppression bills, do a quick training and Q&A, and most importantly, take action. We will begin drafting brief letters to our local newspapers asking our public officials to expand voting access. Register today.
RRC Published an Incomplete Plan The RRC published its Final Oil and Gas Division Monitoring and Enforcement Plan for FY 2022 on June 22, 2021. Commission Shift submitted nine pages of comments, and we acquired the other public comments that were submitted through an open records request. You can read those comments on our website.
Commission Shift sent a letter summarizing our assessment of the plan to several legislators. The letter pointed out key areas where the RRC fell short of what HB 1818 required to be included in the plan, and highlighted errors the RRC made in their reporting.
Notably, the RRC reported only 12 major violations in FY 2020, but Commission Shift counted over 14,000 major violations, or 44% of the total number of violations that year.
A Good Step for Transparency at the Railroad Commission
We were glad to see the Railroad Commission roll out the new PIPES online database, allowing the public to view pipeline records including inspection and violation data.
Operators also have the opportunity to upload applications and reports to the system. It’s a promising development to see the RRC modernizing its filing systems, and we hope to see this level of digital transparency become standard practice with all operators.
(Image at left: PIPES logo via RRC)
The Texas Tribune and Fort Worth Star-Telegram featured our reactions to Governor Abbott leaving out Railroad Commission reform or electricity reliability improvements from the special legislative session agenda:
“Already this summer we have seen the electric grid tested, and Texans deserve a functioning energy infrastructure that keeps businesses going and protects our communities,” Virginia Palacios said.
Energy industry publication S&P Global Platts featured us in a big story about orphan wells and degrading plugged wells in West Texas:
"When these companies go bankrupt, we see more orphan wells going to the state to plug and clean up," Palacios said.
The article shared Ashley Watt’s take on leaking plugged wells at her cattle ranch near Monahans in West Texas: “Watt said she wonders if it is just a matter of when -- and not if -- leaks eventually occur from most of the other plugged wells on her property, and throughout the larger region. "The state of Texas is failing the landowners," Watt said. "We're the ones who have to deal with the consequences -- the health and business consequences."
Find more of our recent media coverage on the Commission Shift website. We appreciate your continued support. Know someone who might want to learn more about us? Please forward them this message.
P.S. -- Be sure to follow Commission Shift on social media, using the links below:
Commission Shift If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please (Unsubscribing is not supported in previews). |
