Texas Railroad Commissions Politics - Research Paper Example

In the 1920s, there was a sporadic pattern of cooperation between the state and federal governments. Tensions were high in the coordination of the state activities and those of the federal government over the control of resources. The headquarters of the railroad commission is in the state of Texas in the United States and acts as among the most powerful state agencies in the country. The paramount duties and responsibilities of the Texas Railroad Commission were to regulate the entire business of oil and gas exploration and mining in the United States.

Most of the oil and gas deposits of the country are in the state of Texas hence the strategic location of the commission’s headquarters in order to ensure proper administration and control of oil and gas exploration activities in the country. In addition to the regulation of gas and oil production in the United States, the Texas railroad commission also monitors and controls major shares of pipeline safety, uranium mining, gas utilities, liquid petroleum gas safety, and surface coal. All these responsibilities lie under the docket of the commission ever since its inception.

The name of the commission is a little confusing to the common citizens who are not aware of the true duties and responsibilities of the company. . The commission does not have any links or deals with the regulation of railroads in any way at all. The name simply developed out of common utterances. Issues surrounding the commission politics The Texas Railroad Commission had a number of politics surrounding its operations as well as dealing with other factors concerned with their duties and responsibilities.

The company had both internal as well as external politics facing its operations and execution of its duties and jurisdictions, especially considering its primary control of the entire industry of oil and gas exploration within the United States of America from the year 1917 to the year 1941. The commission expanded its initial mandate of overseeing petroleum exploration and the regulations of oil pipelines from 1917, to the control of oil and gas production within the entire country in 1919, and finally elevated to the regulation of delivery systems of natural gas in the year 1920.

Technically, the Texas Railroad commission gained control of all the exploration and production activities of oil and gas within the United States, a task that made the commission elevate to become the single most powerful commission in the country, while others argued it had too much power for a single commission. The politics of this commission rose from time to time due to many occurrences in the country. One particular occasion whereby there was high political tension surrounding the activities and duties of the Texas railroad commission was in the 1930s whereby there was an oil boom in the state of Texas.

This oil boom led to the escalation of oil prices to 25 cents per barrel.