August 19, 2016 3:46 PM

In Texas Energy Report: Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton responds to Public Citizen

‘We are the biggest and the best’ oil & gas producing state

Early next week fans, foes and maybe a few ordinary Texans plan to testify before the Sunset Advisory Commission about how to improve – or not – the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency.

It’s called the Texas Railroad Commission, but it hasn’t regulated railroads in decades. Transparency is just one issue that lawmakers will tackle again next spring as they try for a third time in five years to improve, reform and shed more light on what the agency does to protect natural resources, public safety and the environment.

This week an advocacy group called Public Citizen – Texas released a comparative study showing how the commission and its counterparts in other states compare when it comes to exploiting oil and gas reserves while watching out for the public interest. The study found Texas, the nation’s leading oil and gas producer, lacking.

Ryan Sitton, one of Texas’ three elected Railroad Commissioners had this to say about that:

The full story is in the Texas Energy Report.

By Polly Ross Hughes