Texas Oil, Gas Regulator Faces Shortfall Of $15M, Raising Challenges: Commissioner

摘要

The oil and gas slump has reduced the budget for the Texas Railroad Commission by $15 million this year, a state regulator said. The Railroad Commission, which despite its name regulates the oil and gas industry and not railroads, is a powerful state agency whose budget is funded mostly by fees for oil and gas drilling permits. It uses the money to conduct oversight of the state's natural gas utilities, pipeline safety, natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline industry, and surface and uranium mining. Being self-funded through fees was fine when price of oil was above $100 a barrel and there was a lot of drilling activity in the state, but now the commission isn't taking in enough money, Commissioner Ryan Sit-ton (R), one of the three railroad commissioners, told Bloomberg BNA in an interview.