The proposal comes after the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency said it needs more money to plug wells that are in some instances erupting.

The three-member board oversees Texas’ oil and gas industry. The agency has faced criticism over safety concerns linked to fracking, well blowouts and groundwater protection.

Texas voters will choose the President, a U.S. Senator, U.S. House members and more in this election.

Republican Christi Craddick was reelected to the Railroad Commission, defeating Democrat Katherine Culbert with 56% of the vote.

Abandoned wells in the Permian Basin are increasingly erupting with briney, polluted water. The Texas Railroad Commission says it needs emergency money to respond.

While residents smelled rotten eggs, the state’s environmental agency said it has not detected any air pollution.

Incumbent Christi Craddick is touting the health of the Texas energy industry and its impact on the economy. Her top opponent says regulation on the commission is too lax.

While environmentalists say the new rules don’t do enough to protect groundwater, oil and gas operators are contesting stricter requirements for waste pits near wells.

The Gulf Coast is poised to be a major hub for underground disposal of greenhouse gas to mitigate climate change, but questions remain over who will fund it long-term.

Pecos County rancher Schuyler Wight says the Railroad Commission continues to plug wells. But each time they do, another one starts flowing.

Supporters say developing hydrogen as a fuel is critical to slowing climate change. Critics are concerned that producing it with fossil fuels will prop up the oil and gas industry.

Get The Texas Tribune’s coverage of election results for the 2024 primary races for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and the Texas Legislature.

The Texas Railroad Commission is tasked with plugging wells. But the state regulators say their scope is limited.

The city initially protested Pilot’s applications to drill the wells close to its water supply.

Critics are calling on federal regulators to increase their scrutiny and oversight of the proposed pipeline, which would send gas from Texas to the Mexican coast for export to other countries.

As oil and gas companies struggle to dispose of their wastewater in the Permian Basin, the city of Midland is challenging applications for disposal wells near one of its drinking water sources.

The 5.2 magnitude earthquake is tied for the fourth strongest in Texas history. It occurred in an area where oilfield companies have long been injecting wastewater from fracking underground.

An exclusive Inside Climate News analysis found that companies have spilled nearly 150 million gallons of toxic, highly saline wastewater in Texas over the last decade.

The effort to update the state’s oilfield waste disposal rules was initiated by Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright, one of the state’s top oil and gas regulators who has investments in the industry.

After losing in a Republican runoff last year, Stogner said she plans to challenge incumbent Chair Christi Craddick as a member of the Forward Party.

Researchers are still studying the chemical makeup of “produced water” from Permian Basin oil fields. But regulators say they’re ready to issue permits to discharge the water into rivers and creeks.

Some Texans who challenge oil and gas waste sites must spend significant sums and time on investigating what they say the Texas Railroad Commission should examine. Will new regulations for handling waste increase oversight or just maintain the status quo?

The garden in the middle of a 35,000-acre former mine is supplying thousands of pounds of fresh produce to families in three counties that have few grocery stores.

Operators pump a sea of “produced water” underground for disposal. Intensifying tremors raise fears that the deep toxic waste pits could intermingle with water used for farming and drinking.

After the snow and ice of February 2021 had melted and power and water service finally returned, catastrophe turned to criticism. Lawmakers and power providers have since gone to work in hopes that it doesn't happen again.

Look up information about every statewide elected official, every member of the Texas Legislature and every Texan in Congress and see who represents you.

Atmos, a major natural gas provider for the state, apologized for last week’s service disruption that left some Texans without heat during freezing weather.

The Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the state's oil and gas industry, has sent investigators to west Texas following a 5.4 magnitude earthquake near Midland.

The quake was the third largest in Texas history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. An increase in seismic activity in Texas has been linked to injecting fracking wastewater underground.

Christian chairs the three-member board that oversees Texas’ oil and gas industry.

Christian, who’s running for reelection to the Texas Railroad Commission, said he did not realize Warford was Jewish and would stop using the slogan, which he’s used for previous campaigns.

One of three seats on the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the oil and gas industry, is up for grabs this election. Democrat Luke Warford is betting his campaign on the issues of electric grid reliability, regulatory enforcement and reducing emissions.

Stogner, who lost in a Republican primary runoff to incumbent Wayne Christian, said she’s endorsing Luke Warford.

Critics are skeptical about whether the new rules by the Railroad Commission will prevent another catastrophe like the power grid disaster in February 2021.

The initial grant will allow Texas to plug a fraction of the state’s approximately 7,400 documented abandoned oil and gas wells.

Power outages are a possibility during any severe weather event. But a local power outage is different from a larger power grid problem.

Christian beat Sarah Stogner in the Republican primary runoff for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission after she accused him of corruption during the campaign.

Ashley Watt, who owns a 75,000-acre ranch in the Permian Basin, is helping bankroll a substantial TV ad buy in the final two weeks before Stogner faces the Railroad Commission’s chair, Wayne Christian, in the runoff.

Incumbent Wayne Christian and oil and gas lawyer Sarah Stogner pitched voters in Paris, Texas, ahead of the May 24 election. Early voting runs May 16-20.

After last winter’s near-statewide electric blackouts, Texas lawmakers went after regulators they deemed responsible but tiptoed around the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas. Now voters have a chance, if they want it, to send the state a message.

The chair of the Texas Railroad Commission fell short of winning at least 50% of the vote and will face oil and gas attorney Sarah Stogner in May.

The oldest state regulatory agency, in charge of how oil and gas are produced and transported, doesn’t typically attract much attention at election time. This year is different.

In the state’s power grid, electricity and natural gas are co-dependent. Here’s how the winter storm last year broke the system.

One of the five candidates for the Republican Texas Railroad Commission nomination has been killed in a traffic crash while traveling from a West Texas campaign appearance.

Vistra Corp. asked the Railroad Commission of Texas to prevent Energy Transfer LP from cutting off fuel to five of its power plants on Monday. Vistra said the power supply to at least 400,000 homes and businesses could be impacted.

Gov. Greg Abbott says he can "guarantee" there won't be blackouts this winter in Texas after one that knocked out power for some people for four days last February. That's the kind of pre-election prediction that can make a weather forecaster more useful than a political poll.

But Texas oil and gas regulators addressed only part of the problem that led millions of Texans to lose power for days after February’s winter storm, and gas producers likely won’t be required to weatherize until 2023.

Next year’s primary elections start a year after a winter storm knocked out power across Texas — and the government response to that disaster could be on voters’ minds.

Luke Warford, a 32-year-old former Texas Democratic Party staffer, is challenging Republican incumbent Wayne Christian for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission.

The state Public Utility Commission adopted a rule — which experts first recommended a decade ago following a winter storm — requiring power companies to use “best efforts” to ensure plants can operate in the winter.

Oil and gas industry groups provided a list of names to the Railroad Commission for appointment to a council formed in response to the February power crisis. All four of the industry's top choices were selected.

The law says the state's natural gas system won't be required to prepare for extreme weather until 2022 at the earliest and allows companies to opt out of weatherization requirements.

Texas lawmakers passed major bills in response to the winter storm power outages that killed hundreds of Texans in February. But there’s still a lot to do.

The Texas Senate on Monday unanimously approved a sweeping bill that would overhaul the state’s electricity industry and infrastructure, including mandating that power plants prepare for extreme weather and outlawing risky indexed retail electric plans. Senate Bill 3, filed by Republican state Sen. Charles Schwertner of Georgetown, now heads to the Texas House where its prospects are uncertain. Experts say the process of retrofitting the state’s power plants for winter could be difficult and costly, but not impossible, depending on the types of upgrades eventually mandated by regulators. Known as TERC, the board coordinates state energy regulators, electricity generators and the natural gas fuel industry to ensure reliable gas distribution for electricity. The PUC regulates the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state’s main power grid.

A bill that would overhaul Texas’ energy industry — including mandating weatherization for natural gas and power generators — was approved by a Texas Senate committee on Thursday. Many power generators and gas companies were ill-suited for the freezing temperatures in February, which led gas pipelines to freeze and power transmission to falter. AdA Texas House committee earlier this month passed a similar weatherization bill. “I’m convinced that we’re making a big mistake by attacking a problem that isn’t a problem, just because we feel like it is a problem.”Earlier this month, the state Senate scrambled to pass Senate Bill 2142. Dan Patrick, who leads the Texas Senate, called for the resignation of its three members in the aftermath of the winter storm.

The political fallout from the long-lasting Texas power outages have hit both entities hard after Gov. AdYet politically powerful natural gas companies, along with their regulators, appear so far to have escaped the wrath of the governor and the Legislature. Natural gas is the largest source of generation on Texas’ grid, especially during the winter. Lawmakers spent relatively little time questioning natural gas production and transportation executives. During the House committee hearing, lawmakers asked Staples and natural gas pipeline companies to more aggressively prepare for emergencies.

SAN ANTONIO – Top officials of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the agency that regulates the state’s electric grid, said Friday that no energy source was safe from the massive winter storm this week. AdThat choice kept the state’s electric grid from a possible catastrophic blackout, ERCOT officials previously said. (KSAT)The deadly storm has reignited arguments about the state’s energy plan, including whether it over invested in renewable energy sources. Still, wind energy accounts for less than a quarter of the state’s electricity, a figure that is lower in winter months, ERCOT officials said. AdThat supply, according to ERCOT officials, would have been just as vulnerable to the elements.

Eddie Gaspar/The Texas TribuneTexans who want to vote in the upcoming Texas primary runoff election have until Monday, to register. Greg Abbott delayed the upcoming primary runoffs from May to July after the coronavirus pandemic hit the state of Texas. The other statewide Democratic primary runoff is for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, a regulatory agency that oversees the oil and natural gas industry. Voters who voted in the Republican primary in March cannot cross parties and vote in the Democratic primary and vice versa. See the primary runoff ballot here and add key Texas 2020 election dates to your calendar here.

A natural gas flare burns in Pecos County in West Texas. State regulations allow producers to flare gas for up to 10 days after they're done drilling an oil or gas well. But the commission ultimately approved Exco’s flaring extension request 2-to-1 on Aug. 6 with Commission Chairman Wayne Christian casting the lone dissenting vote. He added that it didn't make sense economically for the commission to force Exco to go through the motions to sell natural gas when it brings such a low price. “Natural gas flaring has long been recognized as wasteful and environmentally harmful,” the company said in its petition.