Bill Burch (Texas Railroad Commission candidate)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Bill Burch

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Pittsburgh, 2000

Personal

Birthplace

Erie, Pa.

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Energy consultant

Contact

Campaign website

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Bill Burch (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas Railroad Commission. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 5, 2024.

Burch completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Bill Burch was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. His career experience includes working as a energy consultant.

Elections

2024

See also: Texas Railroad Commissioner election, 2024

General election

General election for Texas Railroad Commission

Incumbent Christi Craddick defeated Katherine Culbert, Eddie Espinoza, Hawk Dunlap, and Richard McKibbin in the general election for Texas Railroad Commission on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christi Craddick (R)	55.6	6,100,218
		Katherine Culbert (D)	39.0	4,275,904
		Eddie Espinoza (G)	2.8	301,793
		Hawk Dunlap (L)	2.6	285,544
		Richard McKibbin (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	1,656

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,965,115
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas Railroad Commission

Katherine Culbert defeated Bill Burch in the Democratic primary for Texas Railroad Commission on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Katherine Culbert	67.6	615,965
		Bill Burch	32.4	294,628

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 910,593
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Railroad Commission

Incumbent Christi Craddick defeated James Matlock, Christie Clark, Corey Howell, and Petra Reyes in the Republican primary for Texas Railroad Commission on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christi Craddick	50.4	982,457
		James Matlock	26.6	517,624
		Christie Clark	11.7	228,395
	Submit photo	Corey Howell	6.3	122,802
		Petra Reyes	5.0	97,280

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,948,558
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Chris Corner (R)

Green convention

Green convention for Texas Railroad Commission

Eddie Espinoza advanced from the Green convention for Texas Railroad Commission on April 13, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eddie Espinoza (G)	100.0	51

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 51
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas Railroad Commission

Hawk Dunlap defeated Chris Fuller in the Libertarian convention for Texas Railroad Commission on April 14, 2024.

		Candidate
✔		Hawk Dunlap (L)
	Submit photo	Chris Fuller (L)

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Burch in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Bill Burch completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Burch's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Bill Burch is a 3rd generation driller who is also a globally recognized Oil & Gas subject matter expert in well control emergency response, drilling engineering, wellbore positioning, formation evaluation, and renewable energy technologies including being a US Patent Holder for carbon free hydrogen generation. Burch earned his undergraduate degree (BSc in Chemical Engineering, Minor in Petroleum Engineering) from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000 and completed his graduate studies in Petroleum Engineering at Louisiana State University in 2008. His career has included assignments in 60+ countries with a complete range of environments from Sub-Saharan and West Africa, Deepwater GOM, Alaskan Arctic, extensively across the Middle East, South America, SE Asia, North Sea, and the United States including California, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, and the entirety of Texas. Burch was part of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill emergency response efforts as a member of the flow rate calculations, top kill team, relief well teams, subsea capping team, and static kill team. His commitment to safety, environmental stewardship, transparency, and integrity has been demonstrated during his entire career and he is known for his steadfast courage in the toughest moments.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am respected as a honest broker by the oil and gas industry and want to help steer the longevity of this business sector while insuring the safety for Texans. This includes environmental stewardship, sound conservation practices, and the implementation of advanced technologies.
• I will ensure the resources of Texas are managed properly and regulated fairly.
• I will help make the Railroad Commission more robust by increasing actual enforcement capabilities.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about the oil and gas industry. I have studied and worked at many levels, including well construction, oilwell firefighting/emergency response, and long term proper plug and abandonment. It is important that Texas gets the biggest benefit from its natural resources that it possibly can.I have seen waste in the industry, and I have seen best practices ignored. I have seen the current Railroad Commission look the other way, while the industry records record profits and leaves regular Texans to pay for the damages inflicted over generations. Examples include:

• SALT WATER DISPOSAL- when producing a well, toxic radioactive water is generated. The daily volume handled by the industry in Texas has exceeded the capacity for safe disposal.
• EARTHQUAKES- Since 2009, seismic activity in the State has increased exponentially. Currently, there are multiple seismic events daily, including many exceeding 3.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale. Of the top five (5) quakes ever recorded in the State’s history, three (3) have occurred in the past 18 months. The US Geological Survey (USGS), a United States Federal agency, has confirmed the causation between toxic salt water disposal and seismic activities.
• ZOMBIE WELLS- Tens of thousands of improperly plugged wells are now failing, and are now leaking into the ground water of Texas.

• FUTURE OF ENERGY- Big decisions are being made today affecting the future of Texas, and I want to lead those solutions.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

This office is the most under appreciated, and yet powerful office in the State of Texas. This office regulates an industry that provides a significant portion of the State GDP. Whole towns and counties are dependent on the royalties, jobs, and supplementary services provided by the Energy industry.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

TRANSPARENCY- Candid disclosure and accountability. The industry currently obfuscates numbers such as the number of events such as the number of spills, blowouts, accidents, and injuries.

INTEGRITY- The industry should recognize the candidate is trustworthy and reliable. They should also be known and trusted by their peers outside their industry.
CONSERVATIONISM- This office is in charge of responsibly developing the natural energy resources. This includes protection of the environment for the good of all Texans.

TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE- This office regulates an industry, therefore the office holder should have well-rounded down stream, mid stream and up stream knowledge of this sector.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want to reverse the direction the State of Texas is going in their regulation of the Oil and Gas Industry for the safety and the good of the industry itself.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Right after college, I joined Schlumberger and was assigned to work in Saudi Arabia as a junior field engineer for Aramco. I was mentored by senior field engineers, and cut my teeth working on the drilling rigs. I worked in this job throughout the Middle East for two and a half years until I moved onto my next job with Halliburton.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

“I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

No. The person who holds this office needs to be a recognized expert trusted by the Oil and Gas Industry. They also must have a proven history of advocating for truth based on facts and science, even against common misbeliefs.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

Holders of this office should have a lifetime of experience and dedication to raising the industry to its highest standards. This is a highly technical office which regulates an industry. The essential skills one must possess are the first hand experiences of field operations in areas such as drilling, workover, intervention, emergency response, plug and abandonment, risk management, safety culture, along with an academic understanding of the geotechnical science and the politics surrounding the industry. The holder of this office should also have deep operational knowledge of upstream, mid-stream and downstream parts of the industry.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign website

Burch’s campaign website stated the following:

“	INTEGRITY & ACCOUNTABILITY Bill Burch will uphold the highest ethical standards to rebuild confidence in the Railroad Commission. Bill is committed to strengthening whistleblower protections to ensure that employees can report misconduct without consequences. Higher standards must be put in place to stop illegal business practices and the widespread exploitation of workers, particularly undocumented. SAFETY Improving workplace standards to reduce the high number of accidents and fatalities that still occur in the industry is among Bill Burch’s top priorities. He will ensure adequate safety training and equipment is available to employees. To achieve this, Bill will make sure the Railroad Commission hires more inspectors, and increase their pay. Current understaffing inhibits the ability for the commission to properly regulate the industry. JOB SECURITY The Railroad Commission needs to invest in education and vocational training, and under Bill Burch’s leadership there will be programs instituted to improve employee skills. Bill supports the right of workers to unionize in order to advocate for fair contracts. Bill will also advocate for establishment of standardized pay and benefits. It is essential to ensure workers have secure jobs and protections in our transition to clean energy. TRANSPARENCY To increase trust in the Railroad Commission, they must expand access of public information to stop industry obfuscation of data, like number of oil spills, blowouts, accidents and injuries. Bill Burch will invest in more divers hiring practices by establishing better programs for community outreach. Bill Burch believes the community needs to lead the conversation.	”
—Bill Burch’s campaign website (2024)

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Bill Burch campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Texas Railroad Commission	Lost primary	$65,842	$178,174
Grand total			$65,842	$178,174
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

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