Since 1954
Despite its vital role regulating oil and gas companies, the Railroad Commission has long operated in the shadows. Thanks to a provocative TikTok, and the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, the agency is having its moment.
Frackers are burning millions of dollars worth of natural gas — releasing hazardous chemicals and greenhouse gases into the air, worsening climate change and creating health risks.
Lowlights include failing to track chemical spills during floods and rejecting the link between earthquakes and fracking.
With little more than a promise, the Texas Railroad Commission is trusting a struggling coal industry to pay for the cost of cleaning up old mines.
Against the odds, indigenous activists take on an international coal mining firm.
Tribal leaders say binational coal companies are mining on sacred ancestral lands.