Callie: Good morning.
This is Callie Ferrar, Commission Secretary.
I'll be serving as the meeting moderator
for today's conference.
Just a few reminders.
When it's your turn to speak,
you'll be transferred over to video and unmuted.
When transferring, during this transition,
the speaker and audience may experience a moment of delay;
this is normal.
Speakers will also need to begin their video
and remove themselves from mute
for the video and audio to work.
Permission does reserve the right
to remove any audio or video-sharing capabilities
from any person if needed at any time.
Commissioner Craddick, we are ready when you are.
-: Thank you, Callie.
Good morning.
This is Christi Craddick.
This meeting of the Rower Commission of Texas
will come to order to consider matters
which have been duly posted with the Secretary of State
for February 23rd, 2021 under a 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.
We did not have anyone register in advance.
The Commission will consider the items
on the agenda as posted on the agenda.
Callie, please call up number one, please.
Callie: Thank you.
John Godson will be presenting agenda item one.
John, we are ready when you are.
-: Madam Chairman.
-: Yes, sir.
-: I was without power, like I mentioned,
for all of last week and with all respect
unless an objection from another member,
I move we pass on this item for the next meeting.
-: I don't have any objection.
All right, John, we're gonna pass this week.
Thank you.
And I think, Callie,
we had a couple of people pre-registered
so we are passing this item.
Please watch for another posting and register again.
We appreciate you all being involved.
Callie: Yes, I'll reach out to both gentlemen
that were on here to let them know to rejoin another day.
-: Okay, all right.
Thank you.
Number two.
-: Madam Chairman.
Again, just like the last item,
I've not had time to research this.
For the same reasons, I move we pass the second item
to the next meeting.
-: Okay, that's fine.
Thank you, Robert.
We'll see you in a week or two.
We appreciate it.
-: Thank you.
-: All right.
Oil and Gas Consent Agenda.
Everybody okay going forward on those?
All right, there are eight items
on this Oil and Gas Consent Agenda items 40 through 47...
Callie: And Commissioners, before approving,
we do have John Hicks representing Driftwood Energy,
regarding items 41 through 44,
registered and available for questions if needed.
-: Oh, thank you.
Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Hicks?
-: No.
-: Okay.
I move that we approve items 40 through 47.
Is there a second?
-: Second.
-: Second by Commissioner Christian.
All those in favor, say "Aye."
-: Aye.
Aye, motion passes.
Those items are approved.
We're going to master default items, items 48 through 51.
There are four of these.
I move that we approve items 48 through 51.
Is there a second?
-: Second.
-: Second by Commissioner Wright.
Is there a second?
-: I just did it.
-: Oh, sorry, second.
All in favor, say...
Sorry, you can tell I'm not awake this morning.
All in favor, say "Aye."
-: Aye.
-: Motion passes.
Those items are approved.
I apologize for that.
Let's go to Agreed Enforcement Orders.
Items 52 through 247.
There were 196 agreed enforcement orders.
I move we approve items 52 through 247.
Is there a second?
-: Second.
Second by Commissioner Christian.
All in favor, say "Aye."
-: Aye.
-: Aye, motion passes.
Those items are approved.
And that concludes the hearing section matters.
We will now take up our administrative agenda.
Callie, if you'll call up whoever's doing 248 this morning.
Callie: (laughs) Yes ma'am.
Thank you.
Paul Deval will be presenting agenda item 248.
Paul, we are ready when you are.
-: Good morning, chairman and Commissioners.
For the record, my name is Paul Dival,
Assistant Director of Technical Permitting
in the oil and gas division.
For item 248, oil and gas division staff
recommends the Commission adopt changes
to the form PR monthly production report
and to implement these changes as follows:
the proposed revisions
will support the Commission's regulation
of flaring and venting of produced natural gas
and are a compliment to the recently-adopted changes
to Form R 32.
These changes will require operators
to distinguish gas that is flared from gas that is vented
and operators will be required to identify
the authority under which gas is flared and vented.
These changes were posted to the Commission's website
for public comment for 30 days.
Five sets of comments were received.
Most of the comments cited the industry's need
to revise their electronic production accounting systems
to accommodate the changes and requested time
and guidance to do so.
These changes will require a significant modification
to both the Commission's
and to operator's production reporting system.
Therefore, we're asking the Commission
to adopt the form now to establish the requirements,
but to delay implementation
to provide time for system modification as follows:
Gas Disposition Code Four will be removed
and Disposition Codes 10 and 11 will be required
for all filings received on or after September 1, 2021.
New filings for Gas Disposition Code Four
will not be accepted after that time.
Operators may begin using
the two-letter authority codes immediately,
but those codes will not be required
in the remarks field of Form PR until January 1st, 2022,
after which all filings for Gas Disposition Codes 10 and 11
must contain at least one
of the four authority codes indicated
in the Form PR instructions.
I'm available to answer your questions.
-: Thank you, Paul.
Are there any questions?
All right, I move
that we approve staff's recommendation.
Is there a second?
-: Second.
-: Second by Commissioner Wright.
All in favor, say "Aye."
-: Aye.
Aye, motion passes.
That item is approved.
Thank you, Paul, for your work on this.
We sure appreciate it.
-: Madam Chairman?
-: Yes, sir.
-: I just want to commend our staff
of what they're doing now
and want to make sure that this goes on record,
I believe is a compliment to our staff,
to the Railroad Commission of Texas.
A lot of times when we are moving,
as we have been this past year,
to decrease flaring in Texas,
when we do something it's presented as if,
"Oh we're folding to political pressures,"
and this and other,
and indeed we follow what the public needs
and what safety is.
But I want to commend our staff.
The fact is, and there's some bills even introduced
over in the Texas legislature to limit this terrible risk
of climate catastrophe which flaring is causing.
Let me just say that the Railroad Commission of Texas
has done a darn good job,
and I'd use a stronger language
if I weren't on camera,
of controlling the environmental dangers
in the state of Texas.
The fact is, prior to the pandemic
when we're at full production,
the flaring, according to the Commission,
was 1.7% of natural gas was not being used
for its full intended purpose, being flare.
That means at that time, I'm from Tinny Hall.
The math was like 98.3% of natural gas
was going to its purpose and cause in the state of Texas,
and now, largely due to the downturn,
but again, by the good work
of our staff across the state of Texas,
the flaring is less than one half of 1%.
May I suggest one half of 1%
is not an environmental catastrophe.
And as has just been shown, our great staff
and workers across the state are increasing
to decrease that one half of 1%.
So while there's problems in the world,
I suggest that flaring in the state of Texas
is being regimented, controlled, decreased
and the proof is in the facts
and there's better things the legislature has to do
then try to instruct the Railroad Commission
of how to handle our business, which we're doing damn well.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Christian.
I think we've got great staff
and thanks for your work on this, by the way.
I appreciate it.
It's gonna be an interesting legislative cycle.
I thought it was gonna be quiet;
not so much this week.
So, Jim, do you have anything?
I was gonna just say a couple of comments
about kinda what's going on this week and
(crosstalk)
and if you've got something, go ahead.
-: I just want to resonate with Commissioner Christian
wonderful job that our staff is doing
on helping improve and get a better handle on (indistinct)
and I commend that.
Thank you, staff, everyone.
-: Thank you.
I think Item 249 is public participation
and no one's registered and Item 250 was executive session.
But before we end, I want to thank staff again.
Look, since Friday, February the 12th, I guess,
it seems like it hasn't been that long,
but it's been a long couple 10 days,
our staff has really worked around the clock.
They've gotten a lot of phone calls from all of us, I think,
to make sure that gas reliability was going on
and making sure we had gas flowing across the state.
I'm proud of the work this agency's done
for the last 10 days.
And I'm really grateful to our staff.
All hours of the day or night they were answering calls
and trying to get people online,
trying to keep people online
and trying to keep the lights on, literally.
So I appreciate the work and we're gonna have
an interesting story to tell this week
and I think we've got a really good story to tell
and they sure made us all look good, so I appreciate that.
So are there any other duly posted things
that we've got this morning?
Nope, all right.
Hearing none.
This meeting of the Railroad Commission of Texas
is adjourned.
Thank you all, and stay safe.
Have a good week.
-: See you later.
Bye-bye.
-: Bye, thank you.