Livestream Announcer: Thank you for your patience.
Unknown: Everybody. We're ready.
Callie: Okay. Good evening. This
is Callie Ferrar, Commission Secretary. I'll be serving
as the meeting moderator for this evening. Due to weather
conditions and limitations of electronic access, the
Commissioners will be meeting by phone communication
only today. Commission does reserve the right to remove
any audio sharing capabilities from any person at any
time if needed. Chairman Craddick, feel free to take over.
Chair Craddick: Thank
you, Callie. And thank you all for being here tonight.
This is Chairman Craddick. This meeting of the Railroad
Commission of Texas will come to order to consider
matters which have been duly posted with the Secretary
of State for February 17, 2021, under section 551.045
of the Texas Government Code.
There is one item on this agenda. Let's go to item
number one, Mark.
Mark Everett: Good evening, Chairman and Commissioners. For the record
I'm Mark Everetts Director of the Market Oversight
section of the Oversight and Safety Division. As you
are aware, the winter weather event impacting the state
of Texas is ongoing and continues to be extreme. The
Governor State of Disaster Declaration issued on February
12, 2021, is still in place. Commission staff continues
to be in contact with the natural gas utilities and
pipelines subject to the Commission's jurisdiction
to ensure adequate gas supply and capacity is available
to protect the citizens of our state. Commission staff
has also remained in contact with the Public Utilities
Commission of Texas and ERCOT due to the ongoing nature
of the weather event and its impact on both the natural
gas and electric industries. Commission staff recommends
that the Commission extend the emergency order entered
on February 12, 2021, to remain in place
through Tuesday, February 23, 2021, unless otherwise
amended by the Commission in a subsequent order. I'm
available to answer any questions.
Chair Craddick: Thank you, Mark. And would you please state your name,
full name, for the record. You and I both know
who you are, but just for the record, please.
Mark Everett: Mark Everetts, director of the Market Oversight section
of the Oversight and Safety division.
Chair Craddick: Thank you. Just
want it on the record. All right. Are there any questions?
Alright, I move. We approved the staff's recommendation
Is there a second?
Commissioner Wright: Second Commissioner Wright
Chair Craddick: Second
by Commissioner Wright. Thank you, Commissioner. All
in favor say aye. Motion passes. That item is approved.
Thank you, gentlemen. And thank you, Mark, for
your work. Yes, and I just want one, just second.
Did you have any comment about this?
Commissioner Wright: No. I just had
something more to say before we go.
Chair Craddick: Okay. All right
I was just gonna say one more thing.
Just as a heads up at 3:23 this afternoon, I
received a letter from Governor Abbott requesting our
assistance in keeping Texas gas in Texas. Our staff
is currently reviewing the letter. So I wanted
to make sure everybody was aware of that. And sorry,
Commissioner, you had a comment as well.
Commissioner Christian: Yes. This
is a Commissioner Christian and just--
Chair Craddick: I'm sorry. I
can't tell anybody's voice on the phone anymore.
Commissioner Christian: Hey. Like, hey, like many Texans, I'm standing
right now in my house in three layers of coats, I've been
without water lights and heat since Sunday night
at 11 o'clock. I'm going on soon 36 hours. So I'm
feeling the pain of all this, and I just want
to say they're a statement real quickly, that I think
we as a Commissioner, I should say. There is no single
reason we're in this mess we're now in. It's a multifaceted
perfect storm. In coming weeks, there's going to
be a lot of debate on the best way to ensure this
never happens again going forward. Take away from this
storm should not be the future of fossil fuels, but
the dangers of subsidizing and mandating intermittent,
unreliable forms of energy at the expense of using
our resources to make the grid more resilient to extreme
weather events. I applaud Governor Abbott in ERCOT
reform an emergency item this legislative session.
I'm thankful the Speaker Phalen and Lieutenant Governor
Patrick had quickly called for legislative hearings
on this matter as well. We must ensure this never happens
again. This order we are passing tonight extends our
emergency actions from last Friday and ensures gas
continues to prioritize toward residential gas and
electric generation for residential use. This is essential
because if customers lose natural gas service, there's
a huge time lag in restoring that gas service because
the gas utility companies must go out to each individual
customers home, turn off the meter, do a leak check
and relight. It could take weeks to bring the gas system
back online for this electric restoration is much quicker.
I just wanted to assure the public that our agency
is doing everything and God bless all the workers across
the state that we and every other emergency and city
and residential, electric and gas company is doing
right now 24-7. But we want to let them know that
our Railroad Commission and our folks we're proud of
are trying to serve Texas families during this difficult
time. This is my statement.
Chair Craddick: Thank you. I appreciate
it. And I want to add to that one. Our staff has
done a great job for the last several days. I think
it is trying to manage and and make sure that we're
on track and having lots of good communication as well.
And I'll just say that the oil and gas industry is
finally getting some power into these fields. I've
just gotten a text message here while we've been sitting
here that the Delaware Basin getting
back online and gas is starting to move out of it.
So we're going to resolve the energy industry.
The oil and gas industry is going to resolve the power
crisis relatively quickly, but I think I've been in
the cold too. I think. I don't know if Jim has
to, but I've not had power either.
And so I think it's been a difficult time for a lot
of families. And I appreciate our staff's work
and all of our work to try to keep moving us forward
and get out of this crisis today.
Commissioner Wright: I couldn't
agree with you, Commissioner Christian, more. This is
Jim, and I just have one thing to add. Thank God for
Coleman lanterns, because that's what I was using the
past three days.
Commissioner Christian: Okay, Jim, I've got a golf cart heater
I'm not supposed to be using in my house. It keeps one bathroom
semi-warm.
Chair Craddick: Okay, look, I don't want to hear about any
problems from you two. I just was on television
reminding people about carbon monoxide. Can we just
not. I would really appreciate it. I need y'all sitting here.
Commissioner Wright: Thank
you to our staff too. Thank you guys for all the hours
you've been putting in. I really appreciate that. And
we'll get through it.
Chair Craddick: Well, we've got
some good folks, so I appreciate it. Is there anything
else that we need to talk about this evening?
All right. Hearing none. This meeting of the Railroad
Commission is adjourned. Thank you all. Stay safe and
stay warm. Thank you, guys. Thank you.