My brother was district director at the RRC in Midland in the ‘80’s. He was wanting to put a plugging fee on every oil well drilled. The oil companies knew he had to be stopped as he was about to be moved to Austin.
Christmas morning he goes out to get his newspaper and there was a turkey on his porch, no note or anything.
Monday morning he goes to work and one of the commissioners was in his office and fired him for taking a bribe or gift from one of the oil companies.
He took it to court and won, the judge saying it was an obvious setup. He had the choice of his job back or a cash settlement. He knew they would eventually get him so he took the cash.
Remember Lena Guerrero, running for a commissioner post? He had dirt on her and other commissioners. When she found out the reporter (who was digging up dirt on some of the commissioners) was about to release proof she was flying on oil company planes, she dropped out of the race. My brother had already revealed she was lying about her college degree.
My brother went into business (not the oil business) and did pretty well for himself.
Our family is from Amarillo, although I live on Lake Mathis now.
Why would he want a fee to plug a well? That’s a good thing.
Anything to get rid of orphaned wells is a good thing.