Commission Shift
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Commission Shift is working to reform oil and gas oversight in Texas.
Commission Shift focuses on holding the Railroad Commission of Texas accountable in a shifting energy landscape, since -- despite its name -- the Railroad Commission oversees the oil and gas industry.
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With people across our state dealing with the impacts of the oil and gas industry, Commission Shift will bring together Texans to spur changes at the Railroad Commission to improve the agency’s fu
06/09/2026
06/09/2026
Nice to see an oil and gas CEO held accountable.
Exclusive: Texas oil CEO arrested, accused of organized crime Sarah Stogner, Reeves County district attorney, said her team investigated the case involving more than $1.2 million in stolen services.
06/08/2026
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is currently setting the rules for oil and gas produced water treatment requirements. We've put together a letter urging the TCEQ to extend the comment period beyond just one week and to strengthen wastewater rules so they protect public health.
Commission Shift's recommendations include:
🎤 Create a robust protest system for affected communities and provide ample public notice.
🏥 Establish clear, mandatory health-protective limits instead of case-by-case regulatory discretion.
⚠️ Place explicit caps on known toxins, ensuring water is fully treated to safe standards.
✍️ Conduct mandatory, 24/7 monitoring to ensure compliance at all times, not just scheduled checks.
🧪 Establish mandatory third-party testing to verify industry self-reporting.
📖 Allow full public access to testing data with no "proprietary information" loopholes.
🌽 Require baseline soil and crop testing to track and intercept toxic buildup in our food chain.
Sign on to our letter today: https://secure.everyaction.com/_5DceZiMt0262Xd9XunzDg2
The RRC doesn’t have enough money to plug orphaned wells. They don’t know how to ask the Legislature for more funding, but this poses a serious cost to landowners.
Texas has over 12,000 orphaned wells on its list. The RRC, our state oil and gas agency, has an uphill battle to get them all plugged given the lack of available funding.
After decades of ignored community complaints and requests to the Railroad Commission to address this sinkhole in Kelton Ranch, heavy rains last week caused it to overflow and cover the surrounding land in a mile-long oil slick.
“The story of this sinkhole is a cautionary tale. We can keep small problems from growing into big expensive disasters by plugging these holes quickly.” — Commission Shift’s Julie Range
🎥: Sarah Stogner
🎤: Virginia Palacios at the Railroad Commission Open Meeting, June 5
Giving public input to our elected officials is one of the best ways to ensure they know what matters to us and our communities. Here are some tips and tricks for what to do when it’s your turn, and why you should keep going.
The Railroad Commission has such an “antiquated” records system that landowner Schuyler Wight had to pay out-of-pocket to make the RRC update the status of an orphaned well.
Yesterday, Commission Shift’s Virginia Palacios spoke to the Railroad Commission about the overflow of a sinkhole near Kelton Ranch in Upton County — and how they took insufficient action to protect the surrounding environment from being coated in oil and produced water.
6/2 RRC open meeting debrief -- Alexander Spike from Air Alliance Houston and Carolina Bustos from Raices Collaborative join Julie Range and Virginia Palacios from Commission Shift.
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