The Railroad Commission of Texas regulates the exploration, production, and transportation of oil and natural gas and surface mining for coal, uranium, and iron ore gravel. Its statutory role is to prevent waste of the state's natural resources, to protect the correlative rights of different interest owners, to prevent pollution, and to provide safety in matters such as hydrogen sulfide. The records are news or press releases, announcements of seminars or workshops, statements, laws, maps, etc., dating 1952-1983, 1985-2004. These items are prepared by the Public Information Office of the Railroad Commission of Texas at the request of an individual commissioner or prepared in the commissioner's office and released upon the instruction of the Commission. The releases are used to inform the media and public about Commission policies, hearings, decisions, actions, and programs. These materials cover the full range of commission activities, with most concerning the oil and gas industry. Issues covered include rail activities, oil and gas regulation, environmental concerns, motor transportation, natural gas safety and natural gas pipelines, surface mining and reclamation issues (primarily coal mining), and the use of alternative fuels. The releases for 1952-1983 and 1985-1991 are bound. There are loose, or unbound releases from 1983 and 1986-2004. And, press releases from 1985 to 1999 can also be found on microfiche. Following the releases are a few items filed with the releases but not in the chronological sequence - oil and gas production reports, maps, and laws. Press releases beginning in 2007 can be found on the website of the agency at http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/pressreleases/index.php. This finding aid describes a single series of the Railroad Commission of Texas records. See Railroad Commission of Texas: An Overview of Records (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/20078/tsl-20078.html) for more records series.
