Texas voters will pick a railroad commissioner during the general election in November.
The Railroad Commission of Texas is a state agency that consists of three elected members. Their goal is to serve Texas by overseeing natural resources and the environment while focusing on the concern for personal and community safety, benefiting enhanced development and economic vitality of Texans.
One Commissioner position is on the ballot every two years, and candidates for the position come from four political parties: the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Green Party and the Libertarian Party.
Here’s an overview of the four candidates for Texas Railroad Commissioner. The Q&A’s have been lightly edited for clarity.
Chrisi Craddick (Republican)
Political Party: Republican
Race: Railroad Commissioner
Incumbent (yes or no): Yes
Years as incumbent, if applicable: 12 years
Occupation: Current chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission
Campaign website: https://christicraddick.com/
Campaign social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, X
Craddick never responded for an interview.
Katherine Culbert (Democrat)
Katherine Culbert, 49, is a process safety engineer who is settled in Houston.
“The biggest part of this whole campaign is letting people know what Railroad Commissioners really do,” Culbert said in an interview with The Mesquite.
Culbert said leaders here in Texas decided they want to keep the commission named the Railroad Commission primarily, because nobody knows what they do by simply looking at the legislative makeup.
“It’s their way of flying under the radar, keeping their jobs and keeping the millionaire leaders of the oil and gas companies able to just do whatever they want to us,” Culbert said.
Culbert states that current commissioners focus on keeping their power and keeping regular Texans in the dark.
“We need somebody that understands the industry and follows science,” said Culbert who has worked in the industry as an engineer since 1999. “Right now, the three commissioners are very much climate deniers, and they are burying their heads in the sand saying oil and gas operations have no effect on the climate of the globe.”
Hawkins “Hawk” Dunlap (Libertarian)
Q: What does an ideal Day One agenda look for you, say, if you’re elected?
A: So first and foremost, we’ve got to change the name of the Railroad Commission. The problem with the name is, Texans nowadays have no idea what the agency does. And the agency controls a third, or they contribute a third of Texas’ budget every year. It could be the Texas Energy Commission. That’s what I’ve gone with because it encompasses everything from fossil fuels to renewables, and it can be under one blanket.
Secondly, if you’ve been following my TikToks or you’ve been reading in the Chronicle, we have a produced water injection problem in the state of Texas. We inject 23 million barrels a day. We can’t produce oil and gas without producing water. It’s just a necessary evil. But we’ve been injecting it into the ground into saltwater disposal wells for enhanced oil recovery for years and years and years. And now the Earth is full, and it’s starting to come back and see us. And we’re having at least one of these blowouts every year.
Last but not least is the Orphan Well program. Perpetually, we get 8,8500 wells in the orphan well program every year. That number never drops. And they’re always adding to the list. And it’s really easy for a large operator to produce a well, pass it on or assign it to another operator, and then assign it to a small operator. And then that small operator produces the last oil that it can get out of it, and it becomes too expensive for them. They can’t afford to plug it. So they just go bankrupt, and it becomes a war to the state and becomes an orphan well. We need to have legislation in place. This not only helps to eliminate the Orphan Well program and take the burden off the taxpayers, but it also will keep operators from just passing the buck or kicking the can down the road to get them from having to address their plugging obligations.
Q: How would your experience as a well control specialist help you oversee the Texas oil and gas industry?
A: I’ve traveled and worked in over 100 countries throughout the world. I spent 27 years overseas after graduating. I have seen the worst of the worst. Folks don’t call us in unless it’s really, really, really bad. And we’ve worked through some really challenging operations in some really remote and challenging areas across the world.
Eddie Espinoza (Green Party)
Q: What issues would you tackle first if you were to be appointed as Texas Railroad commissioner?
A: Top priority is taking care of our Texas ecosystems that surround us and also to protect our freshwater sources. Healthy ecosystems are the new wealth, and water is the new gold. I don’t want them to be contaminated at all. I took a tour, about three months ago, of the Permian Basin and I saw a 60-acre lake of hydrogen sulfide. What’s happened is they’ve over injected water from oil and gas extractions into the Texas subsurface. They’ve injected so much of the contaminated water that it has nowhere to go but up. Now you have a cross-flow contaminated, it’s been mixing with our fresh water sources. So, we have lost three aquifers out in the Permian basin. Unfortunately, we’re not going to get those aquifers back and there’s nothing we can do about it. Only thing we can do is learn from our mistakes in the Permian basin, and we need to ensure that what happened there doesn’t happen anywhere else in Texas.
Q: Why are you passionate about the position of Railroad Commissioner?
A: Working as a teacher, I’ve worked with developing basic reading and math skills and working with families of the students. I am very passionate about helping children and Texas families, all Texans. I want to ensure they have a healthy Texas in the future as opposed to what we have right now.
Q: If the seat is captured, what will you do?
A: We are going to need divine intervention because Christi Craddick is heavily favored to win this. We basically want to put people in the right places. If the Green party is able to take this seat, I will bring along Hawk Dunlap, the Libertarian candidate, with me because he is the expert at plugging oil and gas wells. I am going to bring the experts to the commission. Texas is going to need someone that they can trust and I’m that person.
Q: Why are you the best choice for Texas Railroad Commissioner?
A: I’m the one who is calling for an end to fracking, the other two candidates are not. I’m the only one that is calling for an end on export LNG terminals along the Texas Gulf Coast. We are the only party that is taking global warming seriously.Right now we are above 1.4 degrees celsius pre industrial levels. We are already struggling with wildfires, droughts, more powerful and frequent tropical storms, and heat waves.
