The three elected officials who regulate the oil and gas industry in Texas have an open meeting each month in Austin to vote on matters ranging from pipeline violations to permit renewals.
Members of the public can register to speak for up to three minutes at the end of each of those meetings. People often travel hundreds of miles from South Texas, the Permian Basin and the Gulf Coast for the opportunity to speak directly to the officials who have the final say on oil and gas regulation in Texas. The commission does not accept public comment over the phone during its meetings.
But on a 2-1 vote, the commissioners recently adopted a new public participation policy that will remove public comment at monthly meetings. Going forward, commissioners can individually request a public comment agenda item. If no commissioner makes a request, there will be no guaranteed time for public comment…