August 1, 2014 4:55 PM

Libertarian for Railroad Commission issues debate challenge

Oil, gas regulator viewed increasingly with ‘distrust, even disgust’

The Libertarian candidate for Texas Railroad Commission called Friday for a series of public policy debates that examine the oil and gas regulator’s role in preserving individual liberties, such as the rights of surface landowners, among other things.

A petroleum engineer with 42 years’ experience in the oil and gas, including 18 teaching the subject at the University of Texas at Austin, Mark Miller stressed that the current oil and gas boom has thrust the commission’s increasingly important work into the public spotlight.

And, he says in an open letter, the people of Texas are getting far too little substance from Republican Ryan Sitton, an energy engineer, and Democrat Steve Brown, former Democratic Party Chairman of Fort Bend County.

“Public statements from the major party candidates are, not unexpectedly, long on platitudes and short on specifics. And, the discourse about oil and gas issues outside the commissioner race seems highly polarized between undying support of oil and gas vs. ending fracking at all costs,” Miller writes in his letter.

The complete story can be found in Texas Energy Report.