Left to right, Virginia Palacios moderates a Texas Railroad Commission candidate forum panel with Hawk Dunlap, Katherine Culbert and Eddie Espinoza in Austin on October. 16, 2024.
Their answers in the forum and in interviews with KUT, highlighted differences, but also some key agreements between the challengers seeking to reform an agency that, they say, has fallen under the control of the very industry it regulates.She decided to run because she’s long been frustrated by the lax oversight she says the Railroad Commission provides.
“Still, we’ve heard nothing as far as the investigation, as far as any fines, as far as how they are holding Energy Transfer accountable.” Originally from Longview in East Texas, Hawk Dunlap worked around the world as an oil well control specialist.