WEBVTT

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- Y'all ready? Good morning, this meeting
of the Railroad Commission of Texas

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will come to order to consider matters
which have been duly posted with the

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Secretary of State for May 7, 2019.
The Commission will consider items on

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the agenda as posted on the agenda.
Under our Public Participation Policy,

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anyone desiring to offer public testimony
on any items that are not noticed

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on today's agenda will need to fill out
a testimony form, found in the back

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of the room, and submit it to Commission
Secretary Kathty Way. Please turn

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off your cell phones, and good morning.
Item number one. Morning, Frank.

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- Madam Chairman, Commissioners.
Good morning. I am Frank

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Chamosek with the Oversight
and Safety Division, and our

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first item this morning is
Gas Utilities Docket Number

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10813. It's an application
made by Atmos Pipeline Texas

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for a Test Year 2018 Annual
Interim Rate Adjustment. This

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is the third interim rate
adjustment since the companies

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last rate case in GUD 10580
which set the interim rate

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adjustment factors. Using
those factors, the company

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has identified a test year
incremental revenue requirement

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of approximately forty-nine
million, two hundred and

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twenty-five thousand, two
hundred and sixty-five dollars

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which will be recovered from
their tarriff rate CGS and

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PT customers under the proposed
rate adjustment. Staff's

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review of the filing has found
it to be compliant with

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the provisions of the GRIP
statute, and staff is recommending

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approval. I can address any
questions at this time.

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- Thank you. Are there any questions?
I move we

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approve the Examiner's reccommendation.
Is there a

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second? Second by Commissioner Sitton.
All in favor

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say aye. Motion passes. Item is approved.
Thank you.

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Item number two.

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- Good morning, Chairman and
Commissioners. I'm Dimarlo

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Chico, Administrative Law Judge
with the Hearings division.

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Item number two is a 150-day
suspension order for a

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rate case filed by Texas Gas
Service to change rates to

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recover Hurricane Harvey
response costs in its Gulf Coast

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Service Area. The Examiners
recommend issuance of the

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suspension order to allow for
a proper evaluation of Texas

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Gas Service's filings. I'm
available for questions.

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- Thank you. Are there any questions?
I move we approve

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the Examiner's recommendation.
Is there a second?

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Second by Commissioner Christian.
All in favor say

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aye. Motion passes. Item's approved.
Thank you.

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Morning, Kyle.

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- Morning, Commissioners.
Kyle Lubbey, Administrative

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Law Judge. Item three is a
motion for rehearing filed

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by Mr. Clayton Morris,
protestant in the docket

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considering the Sabine Mining
Company's, or Sabine's,

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application for renewal and
revision of Permit Number

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33H, the South Hallsville
Number 1 Mine, located in

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Harrison County. On February
26, 2019, the Commission

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signed a final order approving
the application and issued

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the renewed and revised
permit renumbered as Permit

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Number 33I to Sabine. A timely
motion for rehearing was

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filed by the protestant.
No response was received.

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The protestant's motion does
not receive significant

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issues of fact or law not
previously considered by the

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Commission. Therefore, it is
recommended that the motion

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be denied. The motion will
be overruled by Operation

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of Law on June 6, 2019. I'm
available for questions.

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- Thank you. Are there any questions?
I move we approve

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the Examiner's recommendation.
Is there a second?

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Second by Commissioner Sitton.
All those in favor say

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aye. Motion passes. Item's approved.
Thank you, Kyle.

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Morning, Jennifer.

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Good morning. Item 4 concerns
a complaint filed by Mike

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Smith requesting the Commission
order Targa Midstream

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Services LLC and/or Burlington
Resources Oil and Gas Company

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LP to remediate hydrocarbon
contamination complaintant

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found in a pond on his land.
An initial proposal for

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decision was considered by the
Commission at a conference

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on May 22, 2018. At the
conference, the Commission

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remanded this case for the
limited purpose of providing

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specific plans regarding
delineation and remediation which

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was to be performed by Targa.
After conference, Targa

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proposed a specifc work plan
to staff on July 18, 2018.

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Staff approved the work plan
with additional comments

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which Targa agreed to. In
August 2018, Targa performed

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in accordance with the
approved work plan, including

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sampling surface water,
excavating and removing soil from

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the pond site, and sampling the soil.
Condesate was not

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observed and sampling results
were below clean-up standards.

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On or about August 23,
staff requested additional

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groundwater testing. Targa
performed the requested

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additional testing on September 13.
The results were below

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clean-up standards. On November
27, 2018, staff issued a

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letter stating that no further
investigation or remediation

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is neccesary. While staff and
Targa both agree that the

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site has been remediated in
compliance with regulatory

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standards, complaintant requests
that additional remediation

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be perfomed. Because the
site has been remediated

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by Targa in accordance with
regulatory standards, the

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examiners recommend that neither
Targa nor Burlington be

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ordeded to further assess and
remediate the pond site.

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The Examiners further recommend
that the Commission deny

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complaintant's request for
additional relief. Exceptions

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and replies were filed, and
I'm available for questions.

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- Thank you. Are there any questions? We
have people from Conoco-Philips here.

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Does anybody have any questions of them?
Alright. I move we approve the examiner's

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recommendation. Is there a second?
Second by

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Commissioner Christian.
All those in favor

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say aye. Motion passes.
Item is approved.

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Thank you, Jennifer.
Are you the next one?

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- I am too. I would like to present five
through twenty-eight together. In items

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five through twenty-eight,
the Texas General

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Land Office filed a
complaint claiming

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Jefferson Block 24 Oil and Gas LLC does not
have a good faith claim to operate wells

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on 24 Commission leases
in Jefferson County,

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Texas. The GLO asserts
that Jefferson

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does not have a good faith claim because
the tracts where the wells are located are

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unleased and any contractual lease relied
on by Jefferson has terminated for a lack

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of production. The GLO
requests the Commission

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order the wells be pluggged.
Jefferson

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acknowledges it has no contractual lease
or other authorization giving it a right

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to operate the wells. Jefferson acknowedges
that the wells have not been productive

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since 2016 and it has the obligation to
plug the wells. Jefferson claims it wants

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to get the wells plugged
through an agreement

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with the GLO using
funds held by the

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GLO. Jefferson also
asserts some of the wells

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should not be plugged
because they can

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be produced economically.
The examiners

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recommend the Commision
grant GLO's request.

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The examiners recommend the Commission find
Jefferson failed to provide a reasonably

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satisfactory showing of a good faith claim
to operate the wells and order Jefferson

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to plug the wells. Exceptions were
filed, and I'm available for questions.

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- Thank you. Are there any questions?
We have

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people here from Jefferson.
About 24. Does

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anybody have any questions of them?
Alright. I

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move we approve the
examiners' recommendation

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for items five through twenty-eight.
Is there

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a second? Second by
Commissioner Sitton.

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All those in favor say aye. Motion passes.
Item's approved. Thank you, Jennifer.

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Oil and Gas Consent Agenda. There are
14 items. We don't have anything

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that's different on these, right?
Okay. I move that we approve

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items 29 through 42. Is there a second?
Second by Commissioner Christian.

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All in favor say aye. Motion passes.
Those items are approved.

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We're going to Rule 15,
Inactive Wells. Items

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43 through 56, and
I'm told that number

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44 is in compliance. Is that correct? So
there are 13 items on this. I move that we

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approve items 43 through
56 with the exception

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of item 44. Is there a second?
Second

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by Commissioner Sitton. All those in favor
say aye. Motion passes. Items are approved.

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And Master Default. We have
one item on this, item

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number 57. I move we approve
item number 57. Is there

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a second? Second by
Commissioner Christian. All in

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favor say aye. Motion passes.
That item is approved.

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Agreed Enforcement Orders. There 151
of these. Items 58 through 208. I move

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we approve 58 through 208. Is there a
second? Second by Commissioner Sitton.

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All those in favor say aye. Motion passes.
Those items are approved. Thank

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you all. That concludes Hearings section.
Administrative. Good morning, Wei.

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- Good morning, Chairman. Commissioners.
For the record, Wei Wang, Executive

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Director. As of last Friday, our headcount
is 771. And we also achieved the

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goal last week of having 165 Oil and Gas
inspectors. We started the year with

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154, so we're really strengthening our
inspector workforce. And in terms of

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well-plugging, as of last Friday, we
plugged 1165 wells this year. So with four

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months left in the fiscal year, we're
less than 400 wells away from meeting

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our internal goal of
3000 wells, and we

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already exceeded the
legislative performance

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measure for the biennium already. That
concludes my report this morning.

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- Thank you. 771. We didn't change for
two weeks. What a win for us. Thank you.

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- Good morning, Vanessa
Bridges, Assistant General

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Counsel for the record. And
we have nothing to report.

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- Thank you. Are there any questions of
anybody? Alright. Item 211 is our Public

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Participation Item. Nobody has turned in
any additional cards indicating they wish

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to speak on any non-posted items. Item
212 is Executive Session which we aren't

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having. That concludes our meeting. Thank
you all very much. We are adjourned.