New Texas Railroader Wants to Double the $593M Agency Budget

Newly elected Texas Railroad Commissioner Jon Rosenthal wants to double his agency's budget — a bid to expand a regulator that state lawmakers funded at $593 million for the 2026-2027 biennium.

Rosenthal, a Democrat who won the November 2026 race against Republican Bo French and Libertarian Arthur DiBianca, laid out his priorities at a press conference in Midland ahead of transition meetings in Austin planned for next week. His top ask: more money for the three-member commission that oversees the state's oil and gas industry.

"Voters have delivered a mandate for a change," said Rosenthal. "My goal is to help this commission be more effective and transparent."

Who is Jon Rosenthal?

He's not a typical Democratic regulator. Rosenthal spent more than 25 years in the oil and gas industry as a mechanical engineer and served four terms in the Texas House representing a district that overlaps parts of west Houston. He calls himself a "drill baby drill" Democrat.

"(That's) because I want to promote American energy independence," said Rosenthal. "And when we talk about American energy independence, Texas is where it's at."

The framing matters for practitioners. Texas accounted for almost half of U.S. crude oil production in 2024, which means whatever the commission does with permitting, enforcement and staffing ripples through national supply.

Where would the money go?

Rosenthal's budget case rests on two planks:

• Streamlined processes for operators he describes as responsible — faster, clearer paths through the agency for companies that play by the rules.
• Competitive wages for commission staff, addressing turnover at an agency that competes with the industry it regulates for talent.

"I think your workforce is your most valuable resource," said Rosenthal. "If you want to have good folks, you've got to treat them good, or they'll go somewhere else. That's all there is to it."

What does this change for the orphaned well problem?

Potentially a lot, if the money materializes. Rosenthal wants to "turbocharge" the plugging of orphaned and zombie wells across the state. Orphaned wells have been inactive for at least 12 months; zombie wells are wells becoming unplugged.

The scale of the problem is measurable. Thousands of these wells are leaking methane, a potent driver of climate change, and contaminating water supplies with toxic chemicals, according to research published in ScienceDirect.

The math on current efforts explains the urgency. The Railroad Commission plugged more than 2,000 wells in the last fiscal year — a record — yet still ended the year with more orphaned wells than it started with. Low-producing and inactive wells keep aging into the orphaned category faster than crews can plug them.

"(We must) dramatically ramp up our efforts to plug those wells, and you need the resources to be able to address," said Rosenthal. "If we don't go after… the root cause of it, we're going to be chasing our tail forever. I hope the other commissioners will join me in taking steps to act boldly on this."

Can he actually get a doubled budget?

That's the practical question, and the arithmetic is steep. Rosenthal joins two sitting Republican commissioners, Wayne Christian and Christi Craddick, on a board where he'll be the minority voice. A doubled budget also requires the Republican-led Texas Legislature — which appropriated the current $593 million in 2025 — to go along.

Rosenthal argues his legislative record positions him for it. Thanks to his four terms in the Texas House, he said he's "always had to work across the aisle to get anything done."

"When Democrats and Republicans work together on the areas where we find common ground, I feel that's where we're doing the best work for the people of our state," said Rosenthal.

For operators, landowners and anyone watching Texas methane emissions, the early signal is a commissioner who wants to spend more on staff, speed up permitting for compliant companies and attack the orphaned well backlog at its source. Whether the $593 million figure doubles — or moves at all — will be settled in the next legislative session, when Rosenthal's mandate meets the state's budget writers.