Chair Christian: I'm sorry. There was a wreck on four-four.
Commissioner Sitton: You're not five minutes late. The
class has to stay unless you're over five minutes late.
Chair Christian: Great. Okay. This meeting of
the Railroad Commission of Texas will come
to order to consider matters which have been
duly posted for the Secretary of State for January 4, 2020. The Commission will
consider the items on the agenda as posted on
the agenda. Under our public participation
policy, anyone desiring the offer public testimony
on any items that are not noticed on today's
agenda will need to fill out a testimony form
found in the back of the room and submit to
the Deputy Commission Secretary, Sharon Walker.
Please silence your cell phones before begin.
Commissioner Craddick: Can I add? We have Callie sitting back there too.
Chair Christian: Callie? Is that her name? I thought
it was, welcome, Callie, we're glad to have you here. Are you leaving?
Commissioner Craddick: I'm going to do service awards, I'm getting up.
Chair Christian: Let's start
with item. Okay, let's start with service award. Here we go.
Robbie Craig: Good morning, Chairman and Commissioners. My
name's Robbie Crag, and I'm the director of Human Resources
and today we're doing the first quarter service awards for 2020. First up with
five years of service from our Hearings division
is Robert Music. (inaudible off-mic chatter)
Next from our Information Technology Services
department with five years of service is Katie Cable.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Next with five years of service, our director of
the Oversight and Safety division, Kari French.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Next, also from our Oversight and Safety division,
with five years of service, Scott McIntyre.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Next, with five years of service, from our
office of General Counsel Hayley Wolf.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
And next, with five years of service, from our
Surface Mining division, Adam Crabinhoft.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Okay. Next, with 10 years of service, from our
Surface Mining division, Martine Alvarez.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Next, with 15 years of service, Ramona Nye from our Communications division.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Celebrating 20 years of service, from our
Oversight and Safety division, Margie Stoney.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Next, with 35 years of service, from our Oil and Gas division, Clay Woodell.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
Also celebrating 35 years of service, from our Information
Technology Services division, Michael Hamilton.
(inaudible off-mic chatter)
This concludes today's service awards.
(audience chatter)
Chair Christian: Ok, let's start with
Item Number 1. I believe Demarlowe Chico.
Demarlowe Chico: Good morning, Chairman
and Commissioners. I'm Demarlowe Chico, Administrative
Law Judge with the Hearings division. Item
Number 1 is a 150-day suspension order for
a rate case filed by Texas Gas Service
Company, a division of One Gas Incorporated,
to change rates within the unincorporated
areas of Central Texas Service area and Gulf
Coast Service area. The Examiner's recommend
issuance of the suspension order to allow for
proper evaluation of the Texas Gas Services
filing. I'm available for questions.
Chair Christian: Are there any questions? I move we approve the
examiner's recommendation. Is there a second?
Commissioner Sitton: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Sitton. All in favor,
say aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. That item is approved. Item Number Two.
Veronica Roberto: Good morning, Chairman, Commissioners. For
the record, Veronica Roberto, Administrative Law Judge for
the Hearings division. Item Number Two is
an application by Texas Municipal Power
Agency requesting release of Phase One, Two and Three
reclamation obligations for an aggregate 4509.6
acres within Gibbons Creek Lignite Mine, apartment
number 26D, located in Grimes County. The
approved post-mine land uses within the subject
area are pasture land, developed water resources,
andd industrial-commercial. Evidence in the
record supports TMPA has satisfied all
requirements for the requested release of
the subject area. After notice, no comments
or requests for hearing were received. TMP
are the only parties to the proceeding. No
exceptions were filed. No changes to the current
bond are requested in the docket. It is
recommended that the request her Phase One, Two,
and Three release for the subject area be approved
and that TMPA be eligible to reduce the amount of
bond for the permit. I'm available for questions.
Chair Christian: Are there any questions? Okay, I move we
approved the examiners recommendation. Is there a second?
Commissioner Craddick: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner
Craddick. All in favor, say aye. Any
opposed? Motion passes. That item is approved. Item number three.
Kyle Lubbey: Good morning, Chairman, Commissioners.
Kyle Lubbey, Administrative Law Judge. Item
Three's an application by Walnut Creek
Mining Company requesting Phase One release
of reclamation obligations for 1505.4 acres
within the Calvert Mine Permit Number 27H,
located in Robertson County. The subject acreage
is located three mine areas within the permit
boundary. Pasture land is the approved post-mine
land use, save those portions were ponds
or county roads are present. Walnut Creek
has demonstrated, as confirmed by Commission
records and analysis, the reclamation activities
related to backfilling, regrading, and drainage
control have been accomplished as required
for Phase One. After noticed, no comments or
request for hearing were received. Walnut Creek
and staff are the only parties to the proceeding.
No exceptions were filed. No changes to
the current bond instrument are requested in
this docket. As a result, the proposed order
prescribes that Walnut Creek is eligible to
reduce the bond by 60% of the amount that
is attributable to the acreage in future bond adjustments. Phase One release
of the 1505.4 acres is recommended. I'm available for questions.
Chair Christian: Any questions? I move we approve
the examiners' recommendation.
Chair Christian: Is there a second?
Commissioner Sitton: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Sitton. All in favor,
say aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. That item is approved. Item Number Four.
Joe Menifee: Good morning,
Chairman, Commissioners. For the record, Joe
Menifee, paralegal in the Hearings division.
I'll be presenting Items Four through Six, all
of which are good news items. Item Number
Four. Subsequent to filing its motion for
rehearing, Borger Resources 4 LLC has
come into compliance. Therefore, it's recommended
the motion be granted and the underlying docket
dismissed as moot. I'm available for questions.
Chair Christian: Are there questions? I move we approve the
examiners' recommendation. Is there a second?
Commissioner Craddick: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Craddick. All in favor
say aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. That item is approved. Item number five.
Joe Menifee: Subsequent to filing its motion for
rehearing, Carburante Exploration Co, Ltd, has come into
compliance. Therefore, it's recommended the
motion be granted and the underlying docket
dismissed as moot. I'm available for questions.
Chair Christian: Are there any questions?
I move that we, that the examiners'
recommendation be approved. Is there a second?
Commissioner Sitton: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Sitton. All in
favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. That item is approved.
Joe Menifee: Item number Six. Subsequent to filing its motion
for rehearing. Daylight Petroleum LLC, has come into compliance.
Therefore, it's recommended the motion be
granted and the underlying docket dismissed
as moot. I'm available for questions.
Chair Christian: Any questions? I move we approve the examiners'
recommendation. Is there a second?
Commissioner Craddick: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner
Craddick. All in favor, say aye. All
opposed? Motion passed. That item is approved.
Commissioner Craddick: Sure like good news, Joe. Thank you.
Chair Christian: Let's move to the Oil and Gas Consent
Agenda. There are 59 items on the Consent Agenda.
I move we approved items Seven through 65.
Is there a second?
Commissioner Sitton: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Sitton.
All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? Motion
passes. Those items are approved. Let's move on to the Rule 15 Inactive Wells
items. There are 22 items on the Rule 15 Inactive
wells list. Item 67 and 76 have achieved
compliance. I move that we approve out in 66 to
89 except items 67 and 76. Is there a second?
Commissioner Craddick: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Craddick. All
in favor, say aye. Any opposed? That motion passes.
Those items are approved. Move to Master
Default Orders. There are 44 Master Default
Orders. I move that we approve items 93 through 133. Is there a second?
Commissioner Sitton: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Sitton.
All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? Motion
passes. Those items are approved. Let's move
to Agreed Enforcement Orders. There are 178
Agreed Enforcement Orders. I move we approve the
items 134 through 311. Is there a second?
Commissioner Craddick: Second.
Chair Christian: Second by Commissioner Craddick. All in favor
say aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Those
items are approved. That concludes the Hearing
section. We will now take up the Administrative agenda.
Executive Director Wang: Good morning, Chairman, Commissioners.
For the record, my name is Wei Wang. Executive Director.
Commissioner Sitton: Dad.
Chair Christian: Yes, and congratulations, Papa.
And by the way, excellent name for the boy child.
Commissioner Craddick: But you're not calling him Christian because
we just don't want to hear. He's really cute.
Chair Christian: Congratulations. We're proud for you.
Executive Director Wang: Thank you. I'm glad
to report that our agencies on track, both in our
performance measures and also our IT projects.
For example, for our well-plugging program, as
of last Friday, we have plugged 540 abandoned
wells, which is close to 40% of our annual
goal. And for site cleanups, we have completed
136 activities, which is 60% off our annual
goal. So we're ahead of the target as of last
Friday. Our current head count, as of last Friday,
is 813, and we continue our very aggressive
hiring practice. Trying to get all the vacancies
filled. And with that, that concludes my
report today. I'm available for questions.
Chair Christian: Are there any questions? Okay. Thank you. I appreciate
that. And Item 313 is our Office of General Counsel item.
Vanessa Burgess: Vanessa Burgess, Assistant General
Counsel, for the record. We have nothing to report.
Chair Christian: Nothing is something I can--
Commissioner Sitton: Don't get long winded on us, Vannesa.
Chair Christian: Are there any questions? Thank you, Alex.
(laughter) It's in the book. I'm sorry. I've screwed it up again. I called the
secretary the wrong thing. Alright. My
fault. Male chauvanist pig, what can I say.
Commissioner Sitton: Should have acted like it was a joke. Haha, I did it on
purpose.
Chair Christian: I don't know. I just go by the
script. What can I say? Item 314 is the Oilfield
Cleanup Report Quarterly Status Report. And
we're sitting here with the award winner to
present to us.
Clay Woodell: Good Morning, Chairman and
Commissioners. For the record, I'm Clay Woodell with the
Oil and Gas division. And with me is Art
Korea. Item 314 is Oilfield Clean Up program
First quarter status report for Fiscal Year 2020.
I will present the well plugging part portion
of it, and Art will present the site remediation portion.
So during the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2020,
we completed plugging operations and closed
files on 310 wells at a cost of $5,181,281.
This includes only those wells that were plugged
and invoiced by the plugging contractor and
approved for payment by field operations.
During that same time, we had physically
plugged 395 wells. And as Wei mentioned, as of
last Friday, we're at 540, so we're doing real
good with plugging operations this year. During
the same period, during the first quarter,
we approved 286 new wells to be plugged with
state funds. And that concludes my portion
if you have any questions. If not, I'll turn it over to art.
Commissioner Craddick: I have a quick question. Are you saying
cost stay about the same or are we continue to watch
those? I just ask because I know there are some
service company, there's some layoffs. I didn't
know if we were, if there's any advantage
Clay Woodell: We're not really seeing that
advantage of it, of necessarily of cost coming down.
But at the same time, I'm not necessarily
seeing a huge increase in our cost.
You know, I think the last time I looked at
things, we were, the wells we were plugging were
slightly shallower in depth than our average plugging depth last year. So, I
think overall, we might be plugging, average cost, about the same.
Commissioner Craddick: Okay, great. Thank you.
Art Korea: Good morning, Commissioners. Art
Korea with the State Managed Cleanup program.
During the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2020,
the State Managed Cleanup program completed and
closed 37 cleanup activities using OGRC funds
at a cost of $420,434.92. Also, during
the first quarter, 138 activities were authorized.
At the end of the first quarter, 129 authorized
cleanup activities remain to be completed. As
of yesterday, the State Managed Cleanup program
completed another 55 activities for a total
of 92 completed activities to date at a cost
of $852,221. An additional 43 activities have
been completed in the field and are waiting
final invoice payment. May I answer any questions?
Chair Christian: Any questions? Thank you very much
for the job. We're very proud of you. And
what you've done with your entire staff. Our
people in the field that are doing such great work,
so thank you and we appreciate your good work.
Chair Christian: Thank you, Clay. Thank you both. All
right, Item 315 is our Public Participation item. No one has
turned any cards indicating that they wish
to speak on any non posted items. Item 316
is our Executive Session item, which we
will not be going into today. Are there any
other duly posted matters to be brought before
the Commission at this time? Hearing none, this
meeting of the Railroad Commission of Texas is adjourned.