Customer Reviews

Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission (The Elma Dill Russell Spencer Foundation series)

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History of the early years of the developing oil industry, written for the layman, with all the ins and outs of political shenanigans and regulatory incompetence. Interesting description of major fields and their development. Demonstrates how the Commission floundered on every issue, influenced by economic interests from property owning politicians and judges.

Once issues and conflicts were more or less worked out by all the multiple parties involved, taking years, the Commission agreed on rulings, claiming credit for resolving the issues. Surprisingly, though reporting all of this, the author sees the Commission as a useful, honorable institution.

Basically, the Commission acted to limit production per well and per property in order to keep the price of oil high. This forced the large companies (which found the oil) to meet demand by buying from small producers and to extend their operations to ranches, farms, etc., and kept the price high enough to justify this.

Politicians recognized that there were more farmer and rancher votes than oil company votes. And while this caused higher gasoline prices, the general public had no organization and little grasp of the political manipulations.

David Prindle's Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission is an in-depth analysis of the history and policies of the Texas Railroad Commission. Professor Prindle believes the Commission is unique among regulatory agencies. He suggests that not only is it the most powerful regulatory agency in the United States, it is also the only important regulatory agency in which the officers are elected rather than appointed.
Professor Prindle's book is divided chronologically, which seems appropriate to the theme of the book. He begins his work with a brief explanation of the development of the Railroad Commission. Governor Hogg formed the Railroad Commission to regulate costs on railroads. Hogg's tremendous popularity with the common man allowed him to easily dominate the new agency in its earliest days. Governor Hogg feared railroad insiders would quickly dominate the agency if officers were elected; therefore, he pressured the state legislature to allow the governor to appoint the positions in its early days. Due to a rare political misstep by Governor Hogg, he failed to appoint any progressive farmers to the commission, the movement soon demanded all commission officers be elected. The state court capitulated to the farmers demands and the Texas Railroad Commissions soon became the most powerful independent agency in the United States with freely elected leadership.
Dr. Prindle then addresses the reasons for the Railroad Commissions involvement in the states petroleum industry and explains its relative importance nationally. When oil was discovered in abundance in the Lone Star State it soon became evident to all involved that the petroleum industry must be regulated to prevent abuses. There was no regulatory agency in place for the new industry, and it was soon determined that since oil was transported by trains, the Texas Railroad Commission would be responsible. In its earliest days this was highly beneficial to those involved in the oil industry since Railroad Commissioners knew very little about the petroleum business. The Commission gave the wildcatters and roughnecks free reign to operate their industry as they chose until it became evident the market would have to be monitored.
Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission does an admirable job of tracing the regulating policies from the earliest days of the industry until through 1980 when the book was finished. He explains the many ways the commission attempted to control the oil market by limiting the amount of oil that could be produced per well. He explains that Texas was the primary producer of all oil in the United States until the 1970s when Middle Eastern interests surpassed the state.
Professor Prindle's book is well researched and organized exceptionally well. The greatest weakness of Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission is the over abundance of data. It is difficult to digest all the numbers and facts presented by the author and sometimes the work reads like a grocery list of statistics. This is definitely not a book for the casual reader or undergraduate students. David Prindle's book is a very important work targeted at a specific audience. That audience will find this book worthwhile.