We have some exciting news to share!
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Commission Shift’s Executive Director, Virginia Palacios, has been appointed to the White House Task Force on carbon dioxide infrastructure permitting. This is a huge accomplishment, and it's a testament to her hard work and dedication, and the strength of our team.
This appointment will help us bring real-world stories about carbon storage, impacted Texans, and the Railroad Commission to key decision makers. Virginia is one of only a handful of individuals in the country to be selected for this task force, and we're proud she’s representing our impacted communities and Texas on a national stage.
This appointment is also a great opportunity for us to raise awareness of our work to reform the Railroad Commission and to secure funding to support our programs. We're asking for your help to make the most of this opportunity.
Please consider making a donation to Commission Shift today. Your donation will help us continue our work to advocate for better policies, language access, ethics reforms, and inclusive decision making at the Railroad Commission.
Thank you for your support!
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If you're not able to make a donation today, please share this email with your friends and family. Every little bit helps!
P.S. This news also kicks off our month of carbon sequestration awareness. We will be sharing information on our social media channels and next newsletter about CCUS, how it relates to Texas and the Railroad Commission, and the risks associated. Stay tuned!
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Craddick Conflicts of Interest
Texas Monthly writer Russell Gold, unearthed the extent of the Craddick family’s oil and gas wealth, painting a full picture of how Representative Tom Craddick and Railroad Commission Chair Christi Craddick profit from the industry they oversee. The story cites Virginia Palacios and Commission Shift’s Captive Agency report.
From Gold: “The family business mixes oil and politics, and business is good. Last year, the Craddicks’ mineral interests in hundreds of wells across seventeen counties entitled them to profits from an ocean of oil that, based on prevailing prices, generated about $10 million. What’s more, the appraised value of the family’s mineral holdings—based on anticipated future royalty payments—totaled more than $20 million. That doesn’t include royalties from wells that have yet to be drilled, which may be substantial.”
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March 16, 2023: Oil Workers Roundtable
True Transition hosted their first Oil Workers Roundtable this month, featuring current and former oilfield hands and plant workers. Commission Shift’s Jose Corpus attended and participated as a former oil and gas worker. Jose was able to listen and share concerns workers have about operators cutting corners to save money while jeopardizing safety, lack of language access, nepotism, and more.
The roundtable also marked the release of True Transition’s US Oil & Gas Workers report which includes findings based on a survey completed by 1,600 U.S. oil, gas, and petrochemical workers.
In the photo, Jose stands with a steel union representative (right) and Megan Milliken Biven and Leo Lidner (left). Biven is a co-author on Commissions Shift’s Orphan Wells Report and founder of True Transition. Lidner is a survivor of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout, and a True Transition board member.
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March 24 - 26: Cattle Raisers Convention and Expo
Commission Shift’s Alyssa Wallace and A.J. Prebensen made it to Dallas for the Cattle Raisers Convention and Expo to connect with cattle folks from around Texas. Old or abandoned oil and gas wells are ticking time bombs that can have a huge impact on ranchers and cattle. As we have seen, leaking wells can contaminate groundwater supplies, release harmful and noxious gasses, and poison wildlife and cattle. It’s important that those impacted have access to information and the resources they need, especially when the Railroad Commission is slow to respond.
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March 29: Laredo Youth Walk Panel
The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas is hosting a week-long youth ancestral walk from the Permian Basin to Boca Chica. The route is following a path through the Tribe’s lands – honoring sacred sites, bringing awareness to the destruction of those lands from extractive industries, reaching out to affected communities, and sharing Tribal history and stories with youth from their Elders.
The youth walk arrived in Laredo on March 29. We enjoyed getting to be a part of the press event and community forum, and connecting over our shared values. You can still follow the end of their walk with the hashtag #BridgetotheAncestors2023.
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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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César Chávez Day of Service
March 31st marks the birthday of César Chávez, a civil rights, Latino and farm labor leader. César Chávez Day of Service is a federal commemorative holiday. Chávez organized several significant campaigns including forming a union now known as the United Farm Workers, leading a boycott against table grapes to draw attention to the effects of pesticide use on farm workers, and fighting for fair treatment and equal rights for Latinos.
At Commission Shift, these movements inspire us because they align with our values. We believe that oil and gas workers, farmers and ranchers, neighbors of oil and gas development, students of Texas’ public schools, energy consumers, and the many others that are affected by the oil and gas industry in Texas deserve stability, safety, clean air, and clean water. We also value Inclusive Decision Making. To us that means that landowners, mineral owners, and people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, languages, races, ethnicities, and geographies across Texas have a right to inform decisions that affect their lives. For more on César Chávez and similarities between farm workers and oil and gas workers, please check out this video from organizer and language access coordinator, Jose Corpus.
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COMING UP
April 1: CCUS month of education
April 22: The Border is Beautiful Festival
April 25: RRC Open Meeting
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The Border is Beautiful Festival
Laredo
April 22, 2023
The Border is Beautiful Festival is a celebration of bicultural art, music, and heritage in downtown Laredo featuring the Grammy-award winning GRUPO FANTASMA! Commission Shift will have a table there, along with other vendors, performers, and artists. Join us! Get tickets and learn more about the event here.
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Railroad Commission Open Meeting
Virtual
April 25, 2023
During the last open meeting, Railroad Commissioners passed the first enforcement actions for defining and weatherizing certain critical infrastructures, and rejected landowner Ashley Watt's evidence of soil contamination after a well on her property was deemed by visual inspection as "compliant."
Listen to Commission Shift’s last open meeting recap.
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Commission Shift Poster Contest
Submissions due May 15, 2023
$800 first place prize, $200 honorable mention.
Commission Shift is pleased to announce that we are open for submissions for our annual poster contest. 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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- Read about Virginia’s appointment to the CCUS permitting task force in the White House Task Force Announcement.
- The Dallas Morning News editorial board thinks the bills filed this legislative session to address the Railroad Commissioners’ conflicts of interest are a good idea - we do too!
- In the name of future reliability, some Texas lawmakers introduced a bill to add a dozen more natural gas plants to the grid. We all know the Uri grid failure wasn’t from lack of facilities, but from lax regulation from agencies like the RRC that caused supply to freeze. Read about the proposed bill and all its problems in Doug Lewin’s recent newsletter.
- Earlier this month, a crude oil spill from old, corroded pipes devastated a small community in Dayton, Texas. Virginia Palacios weighed in.
- Oil and gas has a wastewater problem. Injected wastewater is leading to blowouts and earthquakes across West Texas; now landowners fear it could contaminate aquifers.
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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