The latest Texas Railroad Commission news from The Texas Tribune.
Texas' environmental regulators, already under fire from green groups for not doing enough to keep air and water pollution in check, are bracing for deep cuts as lawmakers hash out the budget. Full Story
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With drilling on the rise, the Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality answer questions about whether Texans need to worry about radioactivity in their water. Full Story
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Triblive: Evan Smith interviews Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams. Full Story
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What’s in a name? The Texas Railroad Commission — and the elected officials who run it — may soon find out. Full Story
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Put state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, on the "maybe" list for Texas railroad commissioner — if there is such a thing when the job comes open. Full Story
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At a state Senate hearing this morning on Texas's rolling blackouts earlier this month, ERCOT released the first list — albeit a very partial one — of power plants that failed during the Feb. 2 crisis. Full Story
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For our latest TribLive conversation, I sat down with the soon-to-be-ex Rairoad Commissioner and declared 2012 U.S. Senate candidate to talk about why he's qualified to serve, what he thinks of his potential primary opponents and a range of issues that he'd face if he were in D.C. today. Full Story
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Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams joined The Texas Tribune's Evan Smith for a TribLive event this morning in Austin. Williams made it official that he's running for the U.S. Senate in 2012. Full Story
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Michael Williams is leaving the Railroad Commission in April and preparing to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. In an interview today with the Trib's Ross Ramsey, he talked about the 2012 race and about his confidence that minorities don't face any special hurdles in Texas GOP primaries. Full Story
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More than 40 people crammed into the Texas Railroad Commission’s hearing today on what caused two water wells in Parker County to become contaminated by natural gas. Missing: the Environmental Protection Agency. Full Story
Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams will resign this week, allowing him to work full time on a race for U.S. Senate — and to avoid a potentially bruising legislative fight over the future of his agency. Full Story
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The Sunset Advisory Commission met today and recommended that the Railroad Commission be renamed the Oil and Gas Commission, and that its top structure shrink from three elected commissioners to one. Full Story
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Every politician needs a villain. George W. Bush had Saddam Hussein; Barack Obama had George W. Bush. Gov. Rick Perry has the EPA., which has had the audacity to order Texas to do more to clean its air. Full Story
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Texas' three Railroad Commissioners today proposed ways to restructure and rename their commission in hearings today in the Capitol. Full Story
Members of the Texas Railroad Commission have become increasingly reliant on large campaign donations in the last decade, especially from industries they regulate, according to a new report to be issued today by Public Citizen's Texas office. Full Story
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Energy is never far from the agenda at the Legislature. This year, Sunset Advisory Commission reviews of oil and gas and electricity regulators will keep the sector in the spotlight, as will renewed clamor for legislation — however unlikely to happen in a tough budget environment — to aid clean energy. Full Story
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The tussle between Texas and federal environmental regulators is heating up in yet another arena — natural gas drilling — after the EPA ordered a gas company to act to come to the aid of two North Texas homes with contaminated wells. Texas Railroad Commissioners fired back, calling the EPA's move "premature" and "grandstanding." Full Story
There are lily pads and launch pads in Texas government, and the Railroad Commission is a launch pad. Being a railroad commissioner is less an end than a means — a way to propel yourself into a better, higher-profile and more powerful job. Which is why a serious reform effort is afoot. Full Story
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The Sunset Advisory Commission's staff report on the Railroad Commission, released today, recommends getting rid of the agency and replacing it with a similar entity headed by five part-time gubernatorial appointees. Full Story
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Republican Gov. Rick Perry leads his Democratic challenger, Bill White by 10 points — 50 percent to 40 percent — in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Libertarian Kathie Glass has the support of 8 percent of respondents; Deb Shafto of the Green Party gets 2 percent. In the last UT/TT poll, conducted in early September, Perry led by 6 points, 39 percent to 33 percent. In a red state in a red year, GOP incumbents in other statewide races are beating their Democratic opponents by between 13 points and 20 points, the new poll found. Full Story
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