In politics, the flashy stuff gets all the attention. Propose a bill that gets you on cable news or chase a hot-button issue that get’s you “LIKES” on social media, and you’ll be hailed as a “reformer”—even if the reform is nothing more than virtue signaling.
But in the real world, the things that slow us down aren’t usually headline material. They’re the vague instructions on a form. The process that takes three steps when it should take one. The unanswered phone call. The delays that frustrate operators, landowners, and staff alike.
Lately, I’ve been hearing concerns more and more from oil and gas businesses from across the state—small, medium, and large. Not about sweeping policy fights, but about those everyday problems that cost them time and money. And if I’m hearing this much directly, how much more is out there?
That’s why I’m launching a new internal effort at the Railroad Commission called the Delivering Oil and Gas Efficiently (DOGE) Task Force. Yes, it has an attention-grabbing acronym—but the goal is serious: to identify inefficiencies and fix them, so we can better serve the public and the industry we regulate.
This isn’t about growing the government. It’s about making the government we already have work better.
The DOGE initiative is focused on tightening up our internal processes—especially when it comes to permitting, hearings, forms, guidance documents, and communication. We’re not looking to overhaul the whole system. We’re just looking for the friction points—those small, frustrating, time-wasting issues that add up—and figuring out how to remove them.
One thing we’ve consistently heard from stakeholders is that it can be challenging to know who to contact at the agency—especially without a direct connection. That’s something worth examining. Should we consider a dedicated casework team to ensure no inquiry falls through the cracks? Are there internal process improvements that could help us respond faster, follow up more consistently, and close the loop? These are exactly the types of questions DOGE was created to explore—and help solve.
And we’re making it easy for anyone to weigh in. This September, we’re hosting six virtual DOGE town halls—giving operators, landowners, and stakeholders multiple opportunities to share feedback directly. Can’t make one of the town halls? Just email or call my office with your suggestions. We want to hear from you.
We can only fix the problems we know about, and no issue is too small to be worth solving. If we identify and remove enough of these pain points, we’ll save operators and taxpayers time, money, and frustration. And we’ll free up more resources to focus on what really matters: delivering affordable, reliable energy to the people of Texas.
Good government isn’t always about bold headlines. Sometimes, it’s about fixing the stuff that nobody else wants to touch. That’s what DOGE is all about.
If you would like to participate, please sign up here.
Christian Wayne is the 50th and current Texas Railroad Commissioner. He is also a former Vice-Chair of Regulated Industries.