An engineer who worked for the Texas Railroad Commission and was actually trying to do his job, claims he was fired because he filed a whistleblower complaint against his supervisor.
Frederick Wright was promoted several times during his six-year tenure at the RRC but he insisted operators “comply with rules, regulations, and applicable law.” Wright claims he was met with hostility as a result.
The employee, Frederick Wright, said his supervisor allegedly told him to approve a report for an oil and gas operator that allegedly wasn’t in compliance with regulations.
Former Railroad Commission engineer sues agency
Deon Daugherty, Reporter-
Houston Business Journal, Aug 16, 2013
In our report, Breaking All the Rules, we showed that Texas does not enforce oil and gas regulations.
…failure to enforce oil and gas regulations means that Texas is not seeking, documenting, sanctioning, deterring, and cleaning up problems associated with irresponsible oil and gas operations such as chemical spills, equipment failure, accidents, and discharges into drinking water supplies.
Thank you for trying Mr. Wright. I will be watching your case and hoping it goes well. But the good-old-boy crony system has permeated Texas at all levels so I don’t expect much from the court system.
UPDATE: If you know Frederick Wright, please tell him to contact this organization: “Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national non-
The problems at the RRC start at the top. Barry Smitherman is Mr. Wright’s boss. He has failed at regulating the oil & gas industry and now he wants to be Attorney General. Here’s his campaign video.
Apparently, Smitherman is another Texas politician who laughs about climate change.
“It cracks me up to hear environmental wackos talk about global warming,” Smitherman said. “The real issue is American energy dependence.” Burleson Star
And Smitherman not only fails at science, he fails at math too.
More information about Mr. Wright from the Dallas Observer.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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The RRC is a rotten, bad org. It is TOTALLY on the side of the polluting O&G industry in Tx. It does ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD for the ordinary peasant–never expect any help from that org. if you are a peasant!!!!
Yep, they have corruption or ineptitude issue. On the subject of cast iron gas main replacement the NTSB is urging immediately replacement of it all over the US, citing 5 deaths in just one PA explosion a few years ago.
But, back in Texas:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/State-allows-dangerous-gas-pipes-to-remain-in-N-Texas-206663621.html
State lets dangerous gas pipes remain in North Texas
“…I’m in favor of addressing the worst 5 percent every year,” said Barry Smitherman, Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission. “If we can identify more than that we should, but our current policy is to identify the worst 5 percent…”
Esteemed Chairman, how the heck will you know which is the worst 5%? Enbridge had hundreds of pipe “anomalies” on their Line 6B, but, the one that spilled 800,000+ gallons of tar sands “crude” did NOT stand out from the other flaws. Cast iron is in many ways worse than the Enbridge pipeline, you can’t run a “smart pig” through gas distribution mains.
See the problem of electing regulators? You can get people into those positions that are clueless about how to do that job!
I love going Pheasant hunting.