That's the problem.

And the orphans are the ones where the company moves off and leaves it, and sometimes they even disband their corporation to avoid responsibility.

So we need to go after those operators, and the vast majority of which operate responsibly, I believe.

We want to encourage the ones that play by the rules and do things the right way, clean up after themselves, plug these wells, properly, the commission should have the resources to partner with the small operators to make sure those wells are properly plugged when they first move off.

Because if the well sits in the ground for 50 years, it becomes corroded and messy and difficult to plug.

If you do it right when you're done with production, it's much more efficient and cleaner and easier.

So we should be partnering with industry to help them be successful and play within the and for the operators who just refuse to do anything because for so many years they've never even been fined or they get issue dozens of citations and they never remediate those problems, we should make it very difficult and very expensive for egregious violators to do business in the state.

yeah that would be something else that would really be a sign that Texas is moving in the right direction by the way what about wastewater from fracking is that something that the railroad commission should be regulating

Was it historic or what?

Historic win.

They beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, the reigning national champion number one team in the country.

Well, not anymore they're not, 'cause the Longhorns had a historic fourth quarter comeback.

Uh, come down from 20 points behind to win that game in the final seconds.

It was super exciting.

We were screaming and yelling and hollering and ...

The state that you are gonna become the railroad commissioner of and clean up the mess that those guys on the other side have made over the last three decades.

My consideration is, are the Republicans in Texas as dense as the Republicans in Missouri are in recognizing that climate change is directly responsible for winter becoming more extreme, and therefore the cost of that climate change has to be built in? Is that a disconnect you see, not just the legislature, but as you move forward in your campaign?

Yeah, that's a good question.

So of my colleagues in the Texas state legislature, you've got kind of a spectrum, right? Some of them are very heady, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, just like any population.

You've got some who are a little smarter and maybe understand things a little more big picture, right? And then there are some who are just, you know, ideologues who just don't know any better.

And that, incidentally, like, sorry to out my colleagues, but that's true on the right and the left as well, right? Yeah.

Sad, but true.

But really, you know, what the narrative they want to forward is that climate change is a hoax.

You know, when it comes to pipelines and land use, how do you as a railroad commissioner balance development with protecting property owners? And is that something that's on your radar as a commissioner? Absolutely.

Give me a sense as to kind of what your platform is, what you're hoping to lead with if you get elected to the Railroad Commission.

Absolutely.

So this is an opportunity to interrupt the status quo, right? If you want a Railroad Commission that's actually actively managing and enforcing the sensible regulations we have in our state, which isn't a lot, but what we do have, I believe, are sensible regulations.

This is a commission that currently spends half of its budget to remediate abandoned wells and zombie wells that come back to life, that create these environmental disasters that nobody else has responsibility for, the state plugs those, and continuously falling behind.

So we actually, to be serious for a minute, We actually have a record number of orphan and zombie wells right now polluting our air, water, and land.

And even though the legislature increased the budget of the Railroad Commission last cycle by almost 20%, $100 million, for the purpose of ramping up, plugging these wells, and remediating these environmental issues, they still ended up with more than what they started with because more come online and they just don't have the resources.

So what I'm getting around to here is if you want an advocate who will seek to strengthen the industry, increase, strengthen the commission, increase the resources that it gets, you will find a hell of a lobbyist right here because not only will it be an upset, right, for a Democrat to win.

I

What, what does that mean if you're an industry person watching?

I love this question.

So are we ready to get to work, folks? 'Cause this is what it looks like.

Um, the budget right now is, uh, the baseline budget's a little under five hundred million dollars for a two-year period for this commission with a thousand full-time employees.

The, um, the legislature in the last session appropriated an extra hundred million dollars for the purpose of ramping up the well plugging program, which the agency has done a great job of doing, plugging a record number of wells.

And, um, the chairman of the commission, Christi Craddick, or chairwoman I should say, uh, has told us, I sit on the Energy Resources Committee, so we just had a hearing on this, the Railroad Commission is advocating to maintain that extra hundred million dollars.

Um, in, in the context of a three hundred and, is it three hundred and thirty, three hundred and fifty billion dollar state biennial budget, I think we can find room to double the agency's budget.

Let's wade into the produced water and talk to us a-- Yeah, uh, talk to us about how you see those issues and, and what you'd like to see, uh, done there or how you'd hope to affect those issues.

that it's going to be the color of your shirt, perhaps.

There's real.

So what I have said in the past is, like, let's preserve optimism for game day.

Democrats have not won statewide in this state in 34 years, and there's certainly a realistic possibility.

There's hope, which is a very powerful thing.

Our side has put up a group of excellent candidates like James Tallarico at the top is a unique talent.

Gina Hinojosa is very strong.

Yeah,

So I'd love to hear what you think the Railroad Commission's role should be in addressing data center development, since it intersects a lot with power, with the oil and gas industry, and just with the use of land in the Permian Basin.

Yeah, no kidding, right? And it's funny because the Railroad Commission of Texas has very little direct interaction with the permitting for these things.

And I'll get to this in just a second.

But I get literally every place I go, it's one of the first questions I get asked.

Well, what about data centers? If we're going to invite this massive piece of industry with the revenue that it brings and the industry that it is into our state, right? We need to appropriately manage this.

So I have actually been in favor of, if we're gonna do it, and I'm not pro or against data centers, I've been in government long enough to know that no matter whether it's good, bad, or indifferent, big money interests often gets their way in your state government.

For better or for worse, the legislature of this state, and the executive branch too, significantly serve big money interests.

Now you're talking my language.

And you saw when you're what your opponent's reaction was, what went through your head?

This is the wildest thing ever, you know, and I am a proud Longhorn.

My engineering degree came from the University of Texas at Austin.

This was a unifying moment for Texans from across the spectrum, from across boundaries and across the state.

Texas A&M Aggies were proud of us.

We beat the number one team in the country, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and everybody was excited and proud.

And I just...

Have you been in touch with him at all, or John Cornyn? Have you heard from either one of them?

So when you saw that, that photo, which is pretty, I mean, standard fare at a school that loves football, I would say, cheering when there's a good moment, and you saw when your- what your opponent's reaction was, what, what went through your head?

This is the wildest thing ever, you know? And I am a proud Longhorn.

Uh, my engineering degree came from the University of Texas at Austin.

This was a unifying moment for Texans from across the, the spectrum, from across boundaries and across the state.

Texas A&M Aggies were proud of us.

We beat the number one team in the country, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and everybody was excited and proud, and I just- I cannot imagine someone who goes through this beautiful, unifying, prideful experience, and all they have is hate in their heart because of the s- color of the skin of some of those students.

It's shameful, and it's, it's unimaginable.

Mm-hmm

You're just in charge of enforcing them.

That's right.

So the legislature does the statute and then actually the agency makes the rules to enact the law that the legislature puts forward.

So I actually think I'm uniquely qualified.

It's great to have a technically competent, someone who's got a good, strong technical background in the industry for this.

I also have four terms in the Texas state legislature.

So When this agency has fallen behind on trying to manage the cleanup of some of these environmental disasters that it ends up having to deal with, they need more budget to do that.

Why is that?

it historic or what?

Historic win.

They beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, the reigning national champion, number one team in the country.

Well, not anymore.

They're not because the Longhorns had a historic fourth quarter comeback.

come down from 20 points behind to win that game in the final seconds.

It was super exciting.

And the University of Texas being the number one public school in the state that represents – it was – When you saw that picture, it was like, that is our state of Texas, John, the state that you are going to become the railroad commissioner of and clean up the mess that those guys on the other side have made over the last three decades.

So I know what I think about that, but what's your reaction?

So I'm oil field trash.

I'm an oil field engineer.

I swear a lot, and y'all are trying to get me to swear on national television.

You're allowed to.

It's cable, you know.

I call BS.

What will you do if you're elected?

Was it historic or what?

Historic win.

They beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, the reigning national champion, number one team in the country.

Well, not anymore.

They're not.

Because the Longhorns had a historic fourth quarter comeback.

come down from 20 points behind to win that game in the final seconds.

And the University of Texas being the number one public school in the state, that represents, it was, when you saw that picture, it was like, that is our state of Texas, John, the state that you are going to become the railroad commissioner of and clean up the mess that those guys on the other side have made over the last three decades

Does Texas need tougher permitting and monitoring of disposal wells? And what do you also tell the farmer who is going to lose arable land or the rancher who no longer can feed his cattle well? off of land that is contaminated with let's say fracking fluid and all these other types of fluids that are pressurized on the ground.

Yeah, so we actually have good standards in place to manage this properly.

It's just not being done.

So part of it is, I think, that there's a lack of will at the part of the commission to enforce existing regulatory standards.

But also, they just don't have the resources to monitor all these facilities.

And because of that, they keep renewing permits without... really doing inspections or making folks remediate their problems.

When you over pressurize these disposal wells is when you start having problems with, you know, earth crust break in and then you get eruptions and zombie wells and pollution and stuff like that.

What are the three measurable changes voters should expect from the Railroad Commission during your first term?

What does this agency actually control, and why should an average Texas family care who sits on that board?

Okay.

So first, thanks so much for having me.

Um, and, and, uh, this is, this is the, the heart of the matter right now.

So this is the most import- portant agency that most people have never heard of, and the reason is because they call, they s- label it railroad, but it doesn't have anything to do with railroads.

It's the oil and gas regulation agency.

The, so this, the Railroad Commission of Texas has 1,000 employees, uh, a, a $500 million biannual budget, and three commissioners that serve six-year terms.

Mm-hmm

How would you prevent taxpayers from becoming the cleanup crew for failed companies?

So there's a few pieces of this, and I know we have only a little bit of time.

The first part of it is half of this commission's budget goes to plugging abandoned wells and orphaned wells.

These are wells that are polluting that the operators either plugged long ago and left and the plugs failed, or they are fly-by-night companies that don't take responsibility for the mess that they made.

And so the first thing that I do is lobby the legislature to increase the budget of the commission.

Cause right now they can't even keep up.

Like you think there's 10,000 at the end of last year, it was a record 11,000.

Does Texas need tougher permitting and monitoring of disposal wells? And what do you also tell the farmer? Who is going to lose arable land? Or the rancher who no longer can feed his cattle off of land that is contaminated with, let's say, fracking fluid and all these other types of fluids that are pressurized on the ground.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, and so for the past at least 30 years, for the, for my visibility on it, um, these folks have been insiders to the industry and either make their money that way or, you know, profit from the industry.

The incumbent who was just, uh, ousted, uh, has financial interests in over a dozen, I think it's 16 or 18, chemical waste management companies, and that is the byproducts of drilling and production, you know, include a lot of waste chemicals, what we call produced water, which is heavily laden with chemicals and salt.

Uh, the management of that stuff is critical for the environment.

Yeah.

Okay

Just a normal...

But not a flamethrower and not a bold proud racist and, and all those things.