Commission Shift staff pic– the one where all our eyes are open.
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“When you have people together who believe in something – things happen.”
– Cesar Chavez
Earlier in January, our staff had the opportunity to take a break from our day-to-day duties and spend some quality time together at our Laredo headquarters for a Commission Shift staff retreat. It was a great opportunity to build stronger bonds and strategize. We all left feeling energized, inspired, and ready to work together.
The start of the year is always a busy time, and this year is no exception. Commission Shift has been hard at work implementing new initiatives, engaging the community, and raising awareness about our mission. We want to thank all of our supporters for their generosity and dedication to helping us towards our goals!
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Community Meetings: Waste Pits
Commissioner Wright has assembled a task force of waste industry representatives to rewrite statewide rule 8, the water protection rule that pertains to oil and gas waste pits. Oil and gas waste pits are used to dispose of solid wastes and sludge that comes from oil and gas production sites. They can contain both non-toxic and harmful chemicals, including heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and carcinogens. Without proper management, these pits can cause significant environmental damage, including groundwater contamination and air pollution. Unsurprisingly, Texas has more waste pits than any other state.
The Railroad Commission is expected to announce amendments to this statewide rule 8 at their next open meeting on February 28th. We are concerned that amendments to the rule could weaken health and safety standards or make public participation in the permitting process more difficult.
If you have concerns, or live near an oil and gas waste pit, please let us know. Commission Shift’s executive director, Virginia Palacios, and consulting environmental attorney, Claire Kreb, will be hosting virtual office hours on Tuesday February 7th and Thursday February 9th from 6pm to 7pm central. This is a space for anyone impacted to drop in to chat with Commission Shift about problems they have experienced with waste pit facilities or permitting processes as a member of the public, and to suggest changes they'd like to see in Statewide Rule 8.
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Take Action: Public hearing on EPA’s methane rules
Texas’s oil and gas industry is among the worst methane polluters in the U.S. and the world. Methane pollution accelerates the damages of global warming, and has devastating local health impacts, exacerbating air pollution linked to asthma and respiratory conditions. The Railroad Commission currently regulates the amount of time and volume of methane gas operators can vent and flare, but it routinely authorizes exceptions to venting and flaring requests, and does not consider air quality or public health impacts of these activities.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a Supplemental Proposal to reduce methane and other harmful pollution from oil and natural gas operations. The supplemental proposal expands the scope of a 2021 proposal the EPA issued, and takes into account additional public comments and testimony the agency received. The supplemental proposal would reduce leaks and emissions from a number of oil and gas facility components, but also includes limits to venting and flaring from oil and gas wells. Sign on in support of curbing methane emissions today.
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On Thursday January 12th, Commission Shift along with Texas based organizations Rio Grande Center for International Study Center and Earthworks, held a virtual media telepresser urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen its newly released methane supplemental proposal, with a request to community members to submit a comment to the federal agency.
“One of the most powerful energy agencies in the country, the Railroad Commission of Texas, is asleep at the wheel in the places we need them most,” said Virginia Palacios, Commission Shift’s executive director. “[The Railroad Commission] hands out exceptions to venting and flaring rules like candy, and they generously grant well plugging extensions for inactive oil, gas and injection wells over and over again. The practices of venting and flaring, and leaving inactive wells unplugged both contribute significantly to the buildup of climate warming emissions in our atmosphere.”
You can read Virginia's full comments here. If you haven’t yet, be sure to sign on to the message to the EPA in support of curbing methane emissions from the Texas oil and gas industry.
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Thank you for being part of our effort to reform oil and gas oversight in Texas. Together we can make the Railroad Commission of Texas a stronger agency that plans for our energy future and puts people and the environment first.
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88th Texas Legislative Session
The first 60 days of this year’s legislative session are heating up with lawmakers proposing and filing thousands of bills. Many bills will not successfully make it through their respective committees, some will pass to the floor of the House or Senate for a vote, and roughly 20-30% of proposed bills each session will be signed into law by the Governor.
Commission Shift is currently monitoring over 20 introduced bills related to the Railroad Commission including changing the name of the agency, ethics reform, solutions for preventing operators from orphaning their wells, as well as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) incentives. The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development, the House Committee on Energy Resources, and the House Environmental Regulation Committee are key to the success or failure of these bills. The new Senate Committee appointments were just announced. Do any of your representatives make up this key committee? Check the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development here.
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Welcome Paige Powell to Commission Shift!
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Paige grew up in a Houston suburb and suffered with asthma as a child – a formative experience which fueled her passion for air quality advocacy and sparked a lifelong mission to help advance common-sense environmental policies. She has served in the public, nonprofit, and education sectors for nearly two decades, working to promote environmental stewardship, defend public health, and advance climate justice in the greater Houston region. Paige is a two-time alumnus of the University of Houston (Master of Public Policy, B.A. Economics); founding member of the Houston Climate Movement; and Community Fellow in Environmental Studies at Rice University. She is excited to join the Commission Shift team and looks forward to helping to reduce carbon emissions through improved industry oversight in Texas.
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COMING UP
Feb. 13th: Comment deadline for EPA methane safeguards
Feb. 15th: Commission Shift Poster Contest Deadline
Feb. 17th: *extended* Deadline for public comments on RP 1186
Feb. 21st: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Orphaned Well Conference
Feb. 28th: Next Railroad Commission open meeting
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Submissions due February 15, 2023
$800 first place prize, $200 honorable mention.
Full details and submission instructions.
Commission Shift is pleased to announce that we are now open for submissions for our annual
poster contest. The contest will be open for submission until February 15, 2023.
Submissions can come from anyone based in Texas, and should reflect images and messages
around our mission statement and values, or any of our education and outreach programs
centered on reforming the Railroad Commission.
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The next RRC Open Meeting is Tuesday, February 28th. RSVP.
Listen to Commission Shift’s last open meeting recap.
Commission Shift has been using a new feature on Twitter, called Twitter Spaces, where we open a live interactive audio space to discuss the Railroad Commission’s Open Meetings. We are opening Twitter Spaces to discuss highlights from RRC agendas one week prior to the scheduled Open Meetings and directly following the meetings to give a recap. If you join our live Twitter Spaces, you can request to be a speaker. Join us to ask a question or add commentary!
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- It's been years since The Railroad Commission has had anything to do with Railroads or trains. Time to #ChangeTheName. Check out this Texas Standard story to see what we think the Texas Lege should change it to!
- The two record-setting earthquakes in West Texas at the end of last year has many people wondering what more can be done to prevent them. Thank you Argus Media and Marketplace for covering Commission Shift on the link between wastewater injection permitting and increased seismic activity.
- Texas leaders haven't done enough to curb methane and create methane mitigation jobs. That's why we need federal methane standards to curb venting and flaring and encourage Texas orphaned well plugging. More from Sheila Serna at our partner organization, Rio Grande International Study Center in this editorial.
- Two recent stories covering the grid weatherization and the 2022 December freeze mention Commission Shift. We need real-time production data, and a gas desk at ERCOT to better inform grid managers. The state is investigating natural gas service failures during the freeze.
- Waste pits in the current news: how one East Texas town is fighting to keep a waste pit from their wetlands and water wells. And how oil and gas waste companies are allowed to make financial contributions to the agency that regulates them.
- More background on waste pits: Commission Shift’s 2021 report on waste industry’s business ties to the Railroad Commissioners. And, an interactive map of all commercial oil and gas surface waste facilities permitted by the Texas Railroad Commission. Released by Earthworks, May 2021.
P.S. Be sure to follow Commission Shift on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn
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Commission Shift
212 Flores Avenue
Laredo, TX 78040
United States
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