Statement by Commissioner Christian on EPA Withdrawal of Information Request

AUSTIN– Commissioner Wayne Christian today released the following statement regarding Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) withdrawal of its information request for the oil and gas industry to provide information on equipment and emissions at existing oil and gas operations:

“After the November election, in an attempt to circumvent the will of the American people, the EPA and the Obama Administration put in place an unlawful methane data collection mandate that would have cost the oil and gas industry millions of dollars."

"I applaud EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for eliminating this costly mandate on our nation’s energy producers that would have hurt jobs and prevented growth in our economy. It is time our national energy policy is based on sound science and not baseless speculation.”

A lifelong conservative businessman, Wayne Christian was elected to join the Railroad Commission of Texas in November 2016. In 1996, Christian was elected to the House of Representatives as the first Republican elected from Deep East Texas since Reconstruction after the Civil War. During his time in the Texas House, Christian served as Vice-Chair of Regulated Industries and as a multi-term member of the Energy Resource Committee. On these committees, he had direct oversight of the Railroad Commission and accumulated a strong record of standing for free markets and against burdensome regulations.