We recommend in the race for Texas railroad commissioner

Many Texans who had by no means heard of the Railroad Commission of Texas earlier than the 2021 winter freeze are effectively conscious of its existence now. The fee has an uncomfortably comfortable relationship with the oil and gasoline business that it regulates.

The fee’s ethically challenged chairman, Republican Wayne Christian, is operating for reelection on a platform of enterprise as traditional. Voters ought to reject that and select his Democratic opponent, Luke Warford.

Warford, 33, is a former chief technique officer for the Texas Democratic Party. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he has spent the bulk of his profession in the personal sector and labored on vitality coverage as a guide. Warford shouldn’t be a far-left activist however a severe candidate who cares about the well being of the oil and gasoline business as part of Texas’ various vitality portfolio.

Warford instructed us he desires the fee to implement the guidelines which are already on the books. He mentioned the fee’s failure to implement these guidelines unfairly favors some corporations over others, undermining Texas’ vitality market.

His pitch to voters features a vow to extend transparency in the fee’s enterprise and to lean on his background in tech to assist modernize operations at the company. Warford instructed us he can draw consideration to points by pulling objects out of consent agendas to pressure public dialogue.

Christian, 72, a former state lawmaker, didn’t sit for an interview with us. He advocates for preventing again towards “Biden administration overreach” and chopping purple tape.

Christian’s strategy to regulation will be described as permissive at finest and unethical at worst. In 2020, he went towards the suggestion of fee workers and voted in favor of putting an oilfield waste depository close to an aquifer in the Midland space. Three days later, the firm that advocated for the undertaking donated $100,000 to Christian’s marketing campaign.

That shouldn’t be acceptable and raises the most severe considerations about Christian’s strategy to his work as a regulator, a job Texans want executed effectively and impartially. Warford is the more sensible choice.

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