Texas Railroad Commission questions post-spill federal action

The Texas Railroad Commission unanimously passed a resolution serving notice to the US government to cease and desist mandates that the TRC sees as being beyond the scope of the federal government.

The resolution says the TRC “opposes all proposals from the present administration and from Congress that may usurp the rights of the states to regulate and manage oil and natural gas exploration and production within their sovereign borders.”

The TRC will send the resolution will be sent to President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden, and various congressional leaders as well as to the governor of each state.

Commissioner Elizabeth Jones pushed for the TRC resolution. Since the Apr. 20 blowout of the Macondo well on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 off Louisiana, Jones has criticized a moratorium on new deepwater drilling and also opposes suggestions for stricter federal offshore drilling regulations.

The resolution specifically mentioned provisions in the recently passed Blowout Prevention Act of 2010 and the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act, both passed by the House of Representatives and in the Senate’s Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act of 2010.