His Texas ranch is littered with a century of oil and gas waste. He’s fighting back

For one West Texas rancher, the rampant orphaned wells have become both a mission and an existential threat.

Dressed in a dark plaid button down and jeans with a rodeo belt buckle, Schuyler Wight arrived in Austin once again to ride herd on the Railroad Commission of Texas, the agency that regulates the state’s vast oil and gas industry.