Jim Wright’s Long History of Violations Makes Him Unqualified to Be Our Next Railroad CommissionerWright is wrapped up in endless litigation and has a shameful history of being disciplined by the body he seeks to be elected toAustin, Texas — Jim Wright, the Republican candidate for the open Texas Railroad Commissioner seat, is blatantly unqualified for the position he seeks.

Wright is just the latest culprit in a long line of Trump-devotee Republicans skirting the rules to benefit themselves. Jim Wright has frequently been sued by other oil & gas companies for not paying his debts.

Wright’s company Dewitt Recyclable Products, LLC, has been in consistent trouble with the Railroad Commission for violating the rules of his permits and by harming the environment in the process.

What this means is Jim Wright has been a rule-breaking nightmare for the Texas Railroad Commission. An agency he hopes to be elected to in November.Wright’s company has 255 logged violations of Railroad Commission permitting rules, including various rules that are meant to protect the environment. This is the same Railroad Commission that Wright seeks to represent as Commissioner.

In a series of environmental catastrophes, Jim Wright was fined $181,519 in administrative penalties for his environmental violations and was forced to clean up his own hazardous waste facility when he failed to keep it compliant.

Jim Wright’s violations include:

• Storing hazardous oil & gas waste directly on the ground,
• Letting frac tanks leak directly onto the ground,
• Piling up waste above and beyond the permitted amount,
• Using totally unpermitted pits for waste storage,

As a candidate in the most important environmental race in the country, this is unacceptable. And what’s even worse is, he is STILL not taking responsibility for the facility he, alone, was responsible for. He paid the $181,519 and the Texas Railroad Commission held him responsible for those violations, but he’s still skirting responsibility by pushing the blame off on Dewitt Recyclable Products, which is HIS company.

Texas Democratic Party Communications Director Abhi Rahman issued the following statement:

“Texans want real leaders, not cheaters. In every single way, Jim Wright has skirted the rules, cheated the system, and used pay-to-play politics to step on Texas businesses. Just like his businesses abuses, Jim Wright is running for Texas Railroad Commissioner to abuse power for his own personal gain. Wright is desperate to evade justice–the only way he can is to be elected Railroad Commissioner. He has proven that he will attempt to lie, cheat, and steal his way out of his financial problems, and that won’t stop once he’s in office.

“Jim Wright doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near an elected office, much less the Railroad Commission, whose rules he’s broken already some 250 times. We must clean up our Railroad Commission and fight for the most important environmental race in the country. As Texans, we must fight to secure our productive and environmentally friendly energy future.

“In the race for Texas Railroad Commissioner, there is only one person running who is actually qualified for the position: Chrysta Castañeda. Chrysta is an engineer, a lawyer, and someone who has been preparing for this role her entire career. On November 3, we know Texans will elect Chrysta.”

To read more about Jim Wright’s rule-breaking and lawlessness, click here.

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