AUSTIN — Elizabeth Ames Jones, Chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, took the oath of office for her new term as Commissioner on Tuesday, January 23. Governor Rick Perry administered the oath in the Railroad Commission Chambers. Jones, the incumbent, won election to a six-year term last November.

"I’m humbled by the trust that has been placed in me by over two million Texans," Chairman Jones stated. "I’ll keep working hard to ensure that Texas’ energy resources are extracted in an efficient and environmentally responsible way."

"It isn’t what we have done in the past here at the commission, but it’s what we do in the future that will determine whether our state’s vast energy reserves will keep Texas the number one oil and gas producing state in the nation," Chairman Jones commented in her address to the capacity audience. "With sound stewardship and policy, Texas' energy resources will continue to play a major role in making America less dependent on foreign sources of energy."

The Honorable Wallace Jefferson, Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, was the event's Master of Ceremony. The invocation was given by Bob Long, Pastor, Bastrop Christian Fellowship, and remarks were given by both Commissioner Jones and Governor Perry.

The Railroad Commission of Texas was established in 1891 and has several regulatory divisions that oversee the Texas oil and gas industry, natural gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and the surface mining of coal.

Jones is a former state representative from San Antonio and was appointed to the Texas Railroad Commission by Governor Perry in February 2005. She is Texas’s 44th Railroad Commissioner and the 2nd woman ever elected to the post.

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