Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick addresses delegates during the second day of the Republican Party of Texas convention at George R. Brown Convention Center on Thursday, June 16, 2022.A company seeking to build an oil field waste dump near wells and waterways in East Texas has showered regulators with upwards of $50,000 in political contributions since 2019.
“The Railroad commissioners are personally responsible for cheapening and tarnishing their office by continuing to take significant amounts of money from parties who have cases on their docket,” said Andrew Wheat, research director of Texans for Public Justice and co-author of the Captive Industry report with Virginia Palacios of the nonprofit Commission Shift.
John Hicks, McBride’s lawyer, defended his client’s engagement in the “constitutionally protected democratic process.” Some Paxton residents have spent years fighting the McBride oilfield waste dump permit, which they fear would contaminate their wells and local waterways that feed into the Sabine River. The RRC technical permitting division has administratively denied the permit, but commissioners have given McBride several opportunities to modify the application.
McBride contributed $12,500 during the two weeks prior to the December RRC meeting at which his firm's application was discussed — $10,000 to Craddick and $2,500 to Wright, who himself has active interests in 18 oil and gas waste companies.
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