Texas Railroad Commissioner-elect Jon Rosenthal used his first news conference since winning office to lay out an ambitious wish list: doubling the agency's half-billion-dollar budget, raising employee pay, streamlining permits for operators who follow the rules, and ramping up oil and gas production. He also said he wants to work with oil companies to plug thousands of abandoned wells that have no owner, while being careful not to overload a staff he described as already stretched thin.
A Midland Debut for the Commissioner-Elect
Rosenthal, who defeated Republican Bo French to become Texas's first Democratic oil and gas commissioner in more than three decades, delivered his remarks at the Petroleum Club in Midland, according to KSAT. He told reporters his goal is to make the Railroad Commission, which regulates the state's oil and gas industry, “more effective and transparent.” A four-term legislator from Cypress and a two-decade-plus oil field engineer, Rosenthal ran a campaign built around the nuts and bolts of the commissioner's job, while French made culture-war issues the centerpiece of his bid, per the same KSAT account.
On the question of orphan wells — abandoned oil and gas sites with no responsible owner left to seal them — Rosenthal committed to making the cleanup work less expensive and faster. He said he wants to work hand in hand with oil companies to plug thousands of these wells and to support the agency's roughly 1,100 employees. At the same time, he was blunt about the limits of what he'll ask of that workforce: “I don't think it would be fair of me to lay a bunch of extra work on an already overworked workforce,” he said, according to the KSAT report.
Betting on Cooperation With Industry
Rosenthal struck a conciliatory tone toward the companies his agency oversees, saying he believes most operators want to follow the rules, turn a profit and still act as good stewards of the environment. That message appears to track with how industry groups have greeted his win: oil-industry associations have said they would welcome Rosenthal working with the industry even as he pursues tougher regulation, The Texas Tribune reported.
Rosenthal's transition team includes former Republican Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman, and sitting Commissioner Jim Wright — whom Rosenthal will replace in January — will serve in an advisory role during the handoff, the station's report notes. Rosenthal's six-year term begins Jan. 4, but he'll be outnumbered 2-1 by Republicans on the three-member commission once he's sworn in, the Tribune reported separately.
Orphan Wells Are an Expensive, Growing Problem
The scale of the cleanup Rosenthal wants to speed up has been climbing for years. As of March 2026, the commission had approved state-funded plugging for 3,632 orphan wells, an all-time high, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The average depth of plugged orphan wells has risen 61% over the past decade to a record 3,062 feet, and the commission has estimated it will cost $202 million to plug its approved inventory — the highest total in the program's history, per the same analysis.
Those costs have been climbing per well, too: the average price to plug an orphan well rose from $23,807 in 2016 to $55,629 in 2026, the institute found. Since 1984, Texas has spent $575 million plugging 47,757 orphaned wells statewide, and lawmakers appropriated a one-time $100 million infusion into the State Managed Plugging Program the prior year. The Railroad Commission itself has touted progress on the backlog, saying it plugged more than 2,000 orphaned wells statewide in fiscal year 2026, exceeding the Legislature's performance target by 300 wells, or 18.9%, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas.
Big Plans Face a Steep Climb
Beyond the budget and workforce goals he announced Friday, Rosenthal has floated other changes during his campaign, including banning campaign donations from fossil fuel companies, publicizing progress on sealing derelict wells, charging companies for underground wastewater disposal, and eliminating the practice of burning off excess gas, the Tribune has reported. He has also pledged bipartisanship as he takes office as the minority voice on the panel.
Whether any of that agenda gets traction is an open question. A University of Houston energy vice president told the Tribune that Rosenthal could draw more attention to industry concerns but cautioned, “I don't expect fundamental changes in what actually happens.” The Washington Post was more pointed in its assessment of his proposed policies, writing simply, “He'll be lucky to pass any of them.”
