Bing. This meeting in the Royal Commission of Texas
will come to order to consider matters which have been
duly posted with the Secretary of State for November
tw 15th 2023. Under our public participation policy
anyone desiring to offer public testimony on any items
that are not noticed on today's agenda was required
to register in advance and we had two people register
Now, the commission will consider items on the agenda
as posted on the agenda item number one,
good morning, chairman and commissioners morning morning
I'm Brennan Foley Administrative Law judge in the hearings
division. Item number one is a docket to consider rate
case expenses associated with Texas gas services. 2022
Rate case to change rates in the unincorporated areas
of its West Texas, North Texas and Borger, Skelly town
service areas. TGS the city of El Paso and the city
of Borger. Each incurred rate case expenses in the
completed rate case docket and in this related docket
the parties filed a unanimous settlement agreement
that resolves all issues including expense amounts
in the proposed method of allocation and recovery.
Following a hearing to consider the settlement, a proposal
for a decision was issued no party filed exceptions
to the PFDTGS filed corrections to the PFD and proposed
final order to correct non substantive typographical
and clerical errors. Those corrections have been incorporated
into the PFD and proposed final order presented for
your consideration. Consistent with the PFD and proposed
final order. It is recommended that the commissioners
approve the settlement. I'm available for questions
Thank you. Are there any questions I have Kate Norman
representing Texas Gas Services has preregistered and
is available for questions. Are there any questions
of Miss Norman? I move. We approve the examiner's recommendation
Is there a 2nd 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Christian. All
in favor. Say motion passes that items approved. Thank
you. Number two,
number two is the unprotected application of Kinder
Morgan Texas pipeline LLC for a waiver of certain maximum
allowable operating pressure requirements for a 0.15
mile section of the pipeline. The director of the pipeline
Safety Department administratively reviewed the application
and recommends approval subject to the conditions set
forth in its October 17th 2023 memorandum. The applicant
was given the opportunity to review those conditions
and does not oppose them. There is no hearing in this
docket consistent with commission rule section 8.125
The proposed final order approves the application and
incorporates pipeline safety conditions. I'm available
for questions. Thank you. Are there any questions?
I move. We approve the examiner's recommendation. Is
there a 2nd 2nd by commissioner, right. All in favor
Say I my motion passes that approved and number three
and number three is the application of Centerpoint
Energy Resources Corp DB A, Centerpoint Energy Intex
and Centerpoint Energy Texas Gas to change rates. Center
Point proposes that its rate change become effective
on or after December 4th 2023 which is 35 days after
the filing of its application by law. The commission
has the authority to suspend the effective date by
150 days. It is recommended that the commissioners
approve the suspension order suspending the effective
date by 150 days. In order to allow the commission
to adequately assess the propriety of Centre Point's
requested rate change on the available for questions
Thank you. Are there any questions Mark Santos representing
Centerpoint has preregistered and is available for
questions. Does anybody have any questions of him?
All right, I move. We approve the examiner's recommendations
There are 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Christian. All in
favor. Say I my motion passes those items are approved
Thank you very much.
Item number four. Good morning. Chamber commissioner
I'm uh administrative law judge John Raul. And uh,
with the hearings division, I will be presenting items
436 this morning. Item number four is an application
of San Miguel Electric Cooper Inc for release of phases
12 and three reclamation obligations on 101 acres at
the San Miguel Mine in Aras Cosa and mcmullin counties
The approved post mine land use for the area is industrial
commercial evidence in the record supports that San
Miguel has satisfied all requirements for phases 12
and three release on 101 acres as required by the Act
and the coal mining regulations. After public notice
no comments or requests for hearing were received.
San Miguel and staff are the only parties to the proceeding
No exceptions were filed to the proposed order and
no changes to the current bond are requested in this
docket. It is recommended that the request for phases
12 and three, release of reclamation obligations for
the aggregate 101 acres be approved and that some Miguel
be eligible to reduce the amount of bond. I'm available
for questions. Thank you. Are there any questions I
move? We approve the examiner's recommendation. Is
there a 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Wright? All in favor
Say I my motion passes that item to prove. Number five
Item number five is the application of Jit Mine LLC
for release of phases two and three reclamation obligations
on 934 acres at the Jit Mine in Leon Limestone and
Freestone counties. The approved post mine land uses
for the area are pasture land and developed water resources
Evidence in the record supports that Jewitt has satisfied
all requirements for phases two and three release of
reclamation obligations on 497.2 acres and phase three
release on 436.8 acres for an aggregate total of 934
acres as required by the act and the coal mining regulations
After public notice, no comments or requests for hearing
were received. Jewitt and staff are the only parties
to the proceeding. No excepts were filed to the proposed
order and no changes to the current bond are requested
in this docket. It is recommended that the request
for phases two and three release of reclamation obligations
on 497.2 acres and phase three release on 436.8 acres
for an aggregate total of 934 acres be approved and
that you would be eligible to reduce the amount of
bond I'm available for questions. Are there any questions
No, I if we approve the examiner's recommendation,
is there 2nd, 2nd, 2nd by Commissioner Christian. All
in favor. Say motion passes that items approved. Number
six. Item number six is the application of Texas Municipal
Power Agency for final closure of permit. Number 26
D for Gibbons Creek mine in Grimes County. Tm's application
included stats letter dated January 4th 2023. Approving
the $0 reclamation cost estimate for the permit. Evidence
in the record supports that TMP successfully completed
all surface coal mining and reclamation activities
for permit number 26 D as required by the act and the
coal mining regulations and that all bonded areas within
the permit area have fully been, have been fully released
from performance obligations by final commission orders
T MP A and staff are the only parties to the proceeding
No exceptions were followed to the proposed order.
It is recommended that the proposed order be issued
approving the final closure of permit for Gibbs Creek
mine permit number 26 D Grames County Texas and returning
the performance bond instrument to TM. I'm available
for questions. Are there any questions? No final closure
huh? Yes, ma'am. It's pretty impressive. All right
I move, we approve the examiner's recommendation. Is
there a 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Wright? All in favor
Say I motion passes that I thank you John.
All right. Number seven and eight. Good morning.
Good morning, chairman and commissioners for the record
My name is Austin Gas Camp technical examiner in the
hearings division. I will be presenting items seven
and eight. They are presented together and require
one vote. Item seven and eight are the applications
of NGL Water Solutions Permian LLC for injection authority
pursuant to statewide rule nine for commercial permits
to dispose of oil and gas waste into a formation not
productive of oil or gas for the Howard Snell lease
wells. Number one and two in the Sprayberry Trend area
field located in Howard County, Texas. The application
is protested by gravity, oil field services LLC gravity
water, midstream LLC gravity contends this permit should
not be issued due to a lack of public interest and
that the injection interval as proposed may not provide
adequate geological confinement. The examiners find
the proposed wells have been designed to be protective
of groundwater and surface fresh water. Additionally
the examiners find the proposed wells are in the public
interest and will provide operational support and redundancy
to NGL nearby big Spring WD operations which is at
its operational limits. The examiners find the applications
to meet the requirements of Chapter 27 of the water
code and statewide rule nine and recommend approval
of the applications exceptions and replies were filed
and I'm available for questions. Thank you. Are there
any questions George Neil and Charles are here representing
the applicant and preregistered and are available for
questions. Are there any questions of either one of
those two? Gentlemen, I move, we approve the examiner's
recommendation. Is there a 2nd 2nd by Commissioner
Christian? All in favor. Say I my motion passes those
items are approved. Thank you. All right. Item number
nine, good morning, good morning chairman, commissioners
for the record. My name is Mandy Patel Administrative
law judge with the hearings division. I'm presenting
items nine through 11. Item nine is the result of RW
A LLC contesting staff's determination that renewal
of its form P five organization report cannot be approved
due to RWAS failure to comply with the commission's
inactive. Well, requirements of statewide rule 15 staff
provided evidence that RW A is the operator record
of three wells that are non compliant with the inactive
well requirements. RW A asserts that it is working
towards bringing the wells into compliance but it has
been delayed due to weather conditions making the wells
inaccessible. The examiners find RW A is not in compliance
with statewide rule 15. The commission cannot renew
RW A's organization report because the operator is
non compliant with the inactive well requirements.
The examiners recommend the commission deny RWAS request
to allow renewal of the organization report and order
RW A to bring the wells into compliance. When with
an act of well requirements, no exceptions were filed
and I'm available for questions. Thank you. Are there
any questions? I move. We approve the examiner recommendation
Is there a 2nd 2nd by commissioner? Right? All in favor
say I motion passes that items approved 10 and 11 items
10 and 11 are a motion for a hearing. They are presented
together with one order requiring one vote on September
20th. The commission issued an order approving the
applications of a lagoon water management LLC for injection
wells, pen operating LLC and penion Midland partners
LP filed a timely motion for rehearing lagoon filed
a reply in opposition to the motion. None of the issues
raised in the motion for renewal are new. All issues
raised in the motion were already raised by Penn and
considered by the commission prior to the commission
issuing the order. In this case, it is recommended
that the commission deny the motion for rehearing.
The motion will be overruled by operation of law on
December 28th. I am available for any questions. Thank
you. Are there any questions? All right. I have George
Neil and Charles J representing the applicant have
preregistered and available for questions. Are there
any questions of those gentlemen,
madam chairman I move, we approve the examiner's recommendation
We have a motion
and I will um, is there a 2nd 2nd? Ok. Emotion in
the second,
all in favor say a motion passes those items are approved
Thank you very much. All right. Number 12. Good morning
chairman and commissioners. My name is Trevor Hance
Administrative Law judge item 12 is a motion for a
hearing of Petron Oil and Gas following an order entered
on August 22nd, 2023 related to violations of statewide
rule. 14. Petra timely filed a motion for a hearing
indicating it had a plan to transfer the. Well commission
staff filed a reply. Petra's motion for a hearing did
not raise any new issues. It's recommended the motion
be denied. It will be overruled by operation of law
on November 30th. I'm available for questions. Thank
you. Are there any questions? No, I move. We approve
the examiner's recommendation. Is there a 2nd 2nd by
Commissioner Wright? All in favor. Say I my motion
passes that I thank you. All right. We're going to
move to the oil and gas consent agenda. Those are items
13 through 53 there are 41 items on the consent agenda
On item number 38 Jessica Mendoza representing resources
Texas Inc has preregistered and is available for questions
Are there any questions of Miss Mendoza? Right. Are
there any other questions? All right, I move. We approve
the items 13 through 53. Is there a 2nd 2nd by Commissioner
Christian? All in favor. Say I motion passes. Those
items are approved. We're going to master default orders
These are there are 18 master default orders items
54 through 71. I move we approve items 54 through 71
Is there a 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Wright. All in favor
Say I my motion passes those items are approved, agreed
enforcement orders. There are 324 agreed enforcement
orders. I move. We approve item 72 through 395. Is
there a 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Christian? All in favor
Say I my motion passes, those items are approved and
that concludes the hearing section and we will now
take up administrative Randall. Good morning, good
morning, good morning for the record of Randall Collins
Staff seeks approval on agenda item number 396. Item
396 on the agenda pertains to the commissioner approval
of contract amendments pursuant to the commission's
delegation of authority and under section 2261.254
the Texas government code, the commission's internal
delegation of authority and the government code requires
commissioner approval of contract or associated amendments
greater than or equal to $1 million at issue. Today
is one contract amendment for an emergency purchase
order for well plugging operations in the Trinity Bay
approval of this item will ensure that the agency has
the necessary approvals in place. Pursuant to the commission's
delegation of authority and state law for the project
to proceed. Timely, a summary of the amendment terms
including contract number and amounts are included
in your notebooks. Staff asked the commission to approve
the contract amendment pursuant to the commission's
delegation of authority and I'm available if you have
any questions. Are there any questions? Is this 396
or 97? 396? Ok. That's what I have. Did we skip something
I have three? Nice.
Ok, I'll call myself 397 but it says 396 in here. I
don't, I don't have a 396 in my book. So, but I
do have that in my book is 397. Do you have any
other questions? I'm just confused. You
fix the number. I'll scratch through it. Ok. All right
All right. I'm gonna, if we approve the staff's recommendations
or 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Wright. All in favor. Say
I motion passes. Thank you. Now we're going to 397
with Haley this morning. Good morning. Chairman, commissioners
Hayley Cochran with the office of General counsel.
Item number 397 is staff's recommendation to adopt
amendments to 16 Texas administrative code section
7.460 relating to suspension of gas utility service
disconnection during an extreme weather emergency.
The amendments to section 7.460 were proposed pursuant
to Texas utilities code section 105023, which requires
the commission to adopt a classification table to guide
courts in issuing civil penalties against gas utilities
that disconnect service during an extreme weather emergency
On September 19th, the commission approved publication
of the proposed amendments in the Texas register for
a public comment period which ended on October 25th
The commission received six comments on the proposal
Staff recommends that the commission adopt the amendments
with changes to the proposed text published in the
register. The recommended changes are described in
the adoption preamble in your notebook materials. Staff
also notes that the commission's September 19th approval
included approval to publish proposed new rule 7.480
relating to energy conservation programs. Staff will
present that for adoption at a later date. May I answer
any questions? Thank you. Are there any questions?
All right, I move. We approve. Staff's recommendations
are 2nd 2nd by Commissioner Christian. All in favor
Say that item is approved. Thank you very much. All
right, we're on item 398 which is public participation
and we've had two people pre register. So Mr White
if you'd like to come up, state your name. So, you
see, they just left it out. They didn't want you to
know.
I have it in mine. This bird correction. It was 396
Thank you. He doesn't have it in his notebook, by the
way. No. Good morning. Good morning. I'm Skyler White
I'm here to represent myself. I paid my own way to
be here. Not, uh, speaking for anybody else in this
room. Oh, good cowboy will take the saddle off a dead
horse and let the coats have him this uh eating cub
Number five, y'all screwed up so many things on this
Well, I'm gonna talk about groundwater protection in
this. Well, today in this area around this, well, the
rustler formation, uh the depth of the rustlers 540
to about 626 130 ft. Your groundwater advisory unit
put out a letter that they needed to protect to 350
ft, which wouldn't, would not protect the rustler when
you plug this. Well, you didn't go to the bottom. You
just went 700 ft. Uh You pumped cement down there.
Lost that first plug. Couldn't find that first plug
popped another plug on top of it. Maybe it held, maybe
it didn't. You know that y'all have a rule that you're
supposed to isolate and protect these, these formations
you know, well, plugging 101 as you go all the way
to the bottom, you start at the bottom and then you
plug up, you didn't go to the bottom of this. Well
why are you not protecting the groundwater? Why are
you not protect following your own rules? You need
to follow your own rules when you plug these wells
and do them, right? MS Cradock. I know you don't care
too much for West Texas. But uh you know, the people
out there need water, we need this fresh water in order
to survive in order to produce the income stream that
your family depends on and the people out there, we
need this water. So please please, please. Next time
you get on these wells and you plug them. Let's plug
them right? Thank you,
Maria Reyes.
Good morning. If you'll state your name and who you
represent, please. Hello, my name is Maria Reyes and
I am here from commission shift. Long time listener
first time speaker.
Um I am a first generation immigrant. I am a veteran
I'm a Texan since 1989. And my journey in our beautiful
state has included teaching higher education, public
administration government. And one of the things that
I highlight is that Texans need to govern Texas. So
thank you for your service.
I am here today supporting communities all across our
beautiful state impacted by the development of oil
and gas. We are concerned about the lack of an overall
comprehensive understanding from the railroad commission
of the impact that oil and gas development is having
in our communities. This is even exacerbated when the
voice of those impacted is silence through the absence
of significant public engagement. So I am here to encourage
you to consider that month after month, this year and
I just watch all your meetings again last night, month
after month, we have witnessed through public comments
in these meetings, the many issues that the public
is experiencing under your authority from a governance
perspective, from a professor teaching Texans that
they should rule themselves. This is the most beautiful
thing that can take place self agency. Texans coming
to you and saying the things that you are doing the
practices, you have the rules under your authority
are not working. And month after month, we have also
witnessed your silence. We have also witnessed your
insinuation or flat out statement that Texans don't
understand what is happening to their land that don't
understand your jurisdiction, that don't understand
the rules. And I just want you to try and think in
terms of public image. What is that doing to the faith
that Texans have in our agencies. I consider myself
an apologist because I love public servants. And so
I love defending the railroad commission. I love defending
the employees of the railroad commission because I
believe there is vocation in what they do spirit for
service in the protection of our natural resources
of the posterity of our state, but something is failing
and what is failing the most is a lack of a true
system of true engagement with Texans themselves. Last
month, you address the way speed rule. We came here
and told you go to the communities that are affected
listen to the Texans that are affected and you chose
not to, especially in a state where distance matters
We need to start considering the systems for public
engagement in this agency. Thank you. Thank you for
being here.
All right. Item 399 is our executive session which
we won't be going into today. Are there any other daily
posted matters? Hearing? None. This meeting, the Royal
Commission is adjourned. Happy Thanksgiving everybody