Organizing Team Summer HighlightsThe Workover Blog | Sep 27, 2024

This summer, Commission Shift’s organizing team engaged in intentional and regular outreach in the West and South Texas regions. Organizing Director Marté Valadez spent time connecting with grassroots leaders in the small rural towns of Van Horn and Sierra Blanca who have been organizing to educate and empower residents about the Saguaro Pipeline and create a course of action to continue engaging the Railroad Commission. Our Program Coordinator Jose Corpus spent time reconnecting with grassroots leaders and local partners in the Carrizo and Asherton communities. The two of them documented their experiences in these communities as points of reflection and planning for the fall engagement they are shifting into.

Asherton, TX Lotería

“The lotería event brought together the Asherton, Texas community affected by the oil and gas industry, bonding and sharing stories of their daily struggles. The attendees not only discussed the traditional game of lotería, but also discussed the environmental and health challenges they face daily. The meeting gave this community a chance to speak out and created a message of empowerment to stand up for safer and healthier living conditions.” — Jose Corpus
— Jose Corpus

Van Horn, Sierra Blanca, Midland-Odessa: Community Conversation

“On Monday, September 16th, community leaders from Van Horn, Sierra Blanca and the Midland-Odessa area came together to get up to talk about any potential oil and gas development projects being proposed in their region. They also spent time understanding the role of the Railroad Commission and the appalling and unethical realities of our state’s oversight and regulatory agency for the oil and gas industry. They planned out fall and winter action steps to take to assure effective updates and regular communication from the Texas Office of Public Engagement and the Railroad Commission Midland-Odessa Regional District office. We are excited to continue supporting these leaders’ organizing effort and witness its outreach efforts to other impacted folks in West Texas!”— Marté Valadez

Summer Office Hours

“Organizing is all about organizing and reorganizing. Some practitioners call it innovating. Others call it experimentation. Fun, silly gooses might call it play. The objective is to try something on, see how it fits… Tailor, accessorize, adjust, adapt accordingly. That was what we tried this summer at Commission Shift and as a team. We tested a new networking space: the simple Summer Office Hours. It was a focus of Jose and I to go out into our neighboring communities within reach to listen, share and connect. We brought people together from our on-the-ground outreach and online engagement to gather with other folks throughout the state and hold space to strategize, troubleshoot, research, interrogate and most importantly, empower one another!

We think it was an awesome time and we heard folks appreciated the space too, BUT we want to be informed social scientists, not mad ones! So, we are asking folks to take the time to give us feedback about our Summer Office Hours.

Community Connect

Now, if you didn’t make it to the Summer Office Hours, maybe you joined our monthly Community Connect we got up and running this summer as well. Well, you can fill out the survey and let us know what you thought about that space too! Your time taken to fill out the survey is what will make us better at Commission Shift! Submissions for the survey will close on October 1st.

If you weren’t able to attend any of our Community Connect sessions, don’t worry — we’re continuing the series through the fall. Join us!” — Marté Valadez

Railroad Commission Open Meeting

At the September 2024 Railroad Commission Open Meeting, the organizing team was grateful to be joined by several community members who came with great hope and intention to deliver public comments in-person in Austin on behalf of the communities to which they are so deeply connected. Watch their testimony here!