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FY 2023-27 Strategic Plan Approved
In May, RRC’s commissioners authorized the agency’s Strategic Plan for the Fiscal Years 2023 to 2027. The primary section of the strategic plan is “Agency Goals and Action Plans,” which shows the planned direction of the agency in our ongoing mission to protect public safety and the environment across Texas. Among the key changes to this strategic plan is the inclusion of critical infrastructure. Following Winter Storm Uri in 2021, the Texas Legislature approved Senate Bill 3, which, among other requirements, mandated rules for the designation of critical gas infrastructure, creation of the Electricity Supply Chain Map of Critical Infrastructure followed by weatherization rules for critical gas infrastructure. Objective 3.4 in the plan calls for establishing critical infrastructure compliance standards, regulating natural gas supply chain entities for power generation requirements and mitigating system outage risks during extreme weather events.
Strategy 3.4.1 has the RRC ensuring designated facilities incorporate weatherization and reliability standards and practices through communication, inspections, processing applications and monitoring reports. The plan includes various measures for RRC to track, including: • Number of weatherization inspections conducted • Number of facilities out of weatherization compliance • Percent of facilities that are required to weatherize that are non-compliant with weatherization standards
• Total number of designated critical infrastructure facilities
SB 3 and a future influx of federal funding for well plugging are having an impact on staffing levels at the agency, which is addressed in the Future Workforce Profile. Creation of RRC’s Critical Infrastructure Division will result in 130 new positions, and federal well plugging funding will likely mean the addition of 35 new inspectors to help oversee plugging efforts.
