Railroad Commission of Texas and Pioneer Exploration, Ltd., Petitioners v. Texas Citizens for a Safe Future And…

Summary

The Supreme Court of Texas held that the Railroad Commission's construction of 'public interest' in Water Code section 27.051(b)(1)—excluding traffic-safety considerations from its injection-well permitting analysis—is reasonable and consistent with the statute's plain language and scheme, and therefore entitled to judicial deference. Because the Commission's interpretation was formally adopted after an adjudication, the Court reviewed the statutory question de novo but upheld the agency's reading based on the TCEQ-only roadway factor added in 1987, the ejusdem generis canon, the Act's fresh-water purpose clause, the Commission's oil-and-gas expertise, and its nearly fifty-year consistent construction. The Court reversed the court of appeals, which had required the Commission to weigh public-safety evidence, and rendered judgment for the Commission and Pioneer in accordance with the trial court's original judgment. Chief Justice Jefferson, concurring in the judgment and joined by Justices Willett and Lehrmann, would instead hold that the statute unambiguously precludes traffic-safety consideration, leaving no legitimate role for deference.