Commissioner Wayne Christian Calls for Public Vote on Future Class VI Permits

Commissioner Wayne Christian Calls for Public Vote on Future Class VI Permits

AUSTIN - Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian is calling for future Class VI carbon capture and underground sequestration (CCUS) permits in Texas to come before the Railroad Commissioners for a public vote following the administrative approval of Oxy Low Carbon Ventures' permit earlier this month.

"I do not support the issuance of this permit, which was approved administratively without a vote by the Commissioners," said Commissioner Wayne Christian. "Carbon capture projects like this are taxpayer-funded boondoggles-no better than solar panels or windmills-and conservatives should not be playing along with the left's climate agenda. Future Class VI permits in Texas should come before the Commissioners for a public vote."

The approved permit represents a troubling new precedent: hundreds of millions or even billions in debt-financed taxpayer subsidies, a 432-page application, and a lifetime permit-all granted without a single vote. Christian has long opposed corporate welfare in all forms of energy production, arguing that viable technologies succeed on their own and that subsidies only distort markets and invite government control.

"As an energy regulator, my position is simple: I am agnostic on innovation but categorically opposed to corporate welfare," continued Christian. "If a technology is viable, it shouldn't need subsidies; and if it needs subsidies, it's not viable."

Furthermore, the Trump Administration's EPA is considering a rollback of the Obama Administration's 2009 CO₂ "Endangerment Finding". The so-called "Endangerment Finding" classified CO₂-a natural, life-sustaining gas-as a threat to public health, which provided the legal framework to regulate CO₂ as a major pollutant giving rise to political movements like the Net Zero agenda. This converse CO₂ policy by the Trump Administration is confusing to claim that CO₂ isn't harmful on one hand, yet at the same time advancing projects built on the premise that CO₂ is dangerous.

Christian continued, "If the EPA is truly reevaluating whether CO₂ is even harmful, then why is it simultaneously greenlighting massive carbon capture projects built around the premise that CO₂ must be eradicated to meet arbitrary Net Zero goals? That contradiction undermines both scientific credibility and regulatory consistency. I have faith in President Trump and hope that he will see these carbon capture projects for what they are: taxpayer-funded corporate welfare."

Beyond the financial, political and scientific concerns, Texas has seen projects like this before fail-Petra Nova. Petra Nova opened in 2017 and collapsed in 2020 due to market forces and federal funding drying up. In 2022, the company only reopened after hundreds of billions in new subsidies were included in President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), highlighting the pitfalls of government-backed carbon capture schemes. Christian argues that these projects rely on false markets and political virtue signaling rather than sound economics or environmental progress.

"Texans deserve openness when their government approves billion-dollar projects that reshape our economy, our land, and our energy future," Christian concluded. "Permits like this-hundreds of pages of legal jargon, permanent in nature, and bankrolled by taxpayer debt-should never be approved behind closed doors. Hard-working Texans should at least have a seat at the table."