Last week, some 50 participants joined Texas State Representative Jon Rosenthal and three conservation organizations last week in an online webinar to discuss a fundamental problem with the production of oil and gas in Texas: air pollution.
Specifically, the discussion revolved around emissions of methane -- the main component in gas - and associated toxins that are released in massive volumes from the oil and gas field in Texas, impacting communities and workers and cooking our climate. Methane is a major contributor to climate change, as methane for the first 20 years of its presence in the atmosphere is 87 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its warming effects. A combination of flaring the gases (often in improperly managed flares), venting (direct emissions), and fugitive emissions (from leaking equipment) has made Texas an unfortunate leader in air pollution.
Indeed, according to the separate report just released from the World Meteorological Organization — a U.N. agency — methane reached a new high in 2019 and has increased 161% above pre-industrial levels "due to increased emissions from anthropogenic sources," including the fossil fuel industry. The report found that roughly 60% of methane emitted into the atmosphere comes from man-made sources, like the development of fossil fuels, landfills, biomass burning and agriculture, the WMO report said.
In his opening remarks, Rosenthal -- who narrowly won is re-election to the Texas house earlier this month - noted that he makes his living as an oil and gas engineer and is not in favor of “shutting down the industry” but is in favor of making changes that will create jobs, lower emissions, and be more sustainable for public health and the climate.
Emma Pabst, a Clean Energy Associate with Environment Texas, spoke of the peer-reviewed studies showing both the climate impact of air pollution from the oil and gas as well as their health impacts, often on marginalized communities in West and South Texas. In essence, the development of oil and gas production particularly in West Texas’ Permian Basin was a climate bomb that was undermining other efforts to reduce global warming. She noted that the solutions to pollution were real but thus far Texas regulators had failed to take decisive action --such as a no-flaring by 2025 goal.
Picking up on these themes, Colin Leyden, with the Environmental Defense Fund, discussed his organization’s findings through their Permian Methane Analysis Project (MAP), a culmination of years of studies in the Permian Basin from fly-overs, drones, towers, site visits, thermal imaging cameras and investigations of data from the Railroad Commission of Texas. Their conclusion? Methane emissions from flares, vents and fugitive emissions were leaking at 3.5 percent, or three times larger than EPA’s estimated national rate, and equates to 1.4 million metric tonnes of waste gas. They also found that 11% of flares were malfunctioning, and that 7% of flared gas was actually being vented directly into the atmosphere.
Our own conservation director Cyrus Reed then discussed current Texas regulations. He noted that there are four agencies that have some regulatory responsibility over oil and gas air emissions, including the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) which regulates the initial drilling and completion of wells, and issues “exceptions” that allow flaring and venting, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which issues permits for oil and gas equipment pollution -- essentially permits to pollute - and is also responsible for monitoring air quality. Two federal agencies - the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-- also have some regulatory responsibility, including in the case of EPA over specific regulation over Methane. Reed noted that while the Railroad Commission of Texas has made some modest improvements recently on gathering data and requiring operators seeking flaring “exceptions” to better justify their need to flare, the changes to “Form 32” do not by themselves lead to any reduction in pollution. Reed pointed out that since the advent of “fracking”, more than 27,000 permits to flare and vent had been issued by the Railroad Commission of Texas.Rule 32 itself contains numerous exceptions and regulatory loopholes that allow oil and gas companies to flare and vent, particularly during the initial drilling and completion of wells.
In terms of TCEQ and the EPA, Reed mentioned that in 2011, TCEQ imposed additional requirements on oil and gas operators, but limited those changes largely to the 15-county area around the Barnett-Shale in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Since then, the Legislature imposed a virtual freeze on additional regulations through SB 1134, which only allows regulations after a cost-benefit analysis, and robust modeling and monitoring data. Instead, Texas has been reliant on the US EPA to impose further safeguards, such as the methane rule, which has been rolled back under the Trump Administration, impacting some 300,000 wells and related equipment in Texas. While the new Administration under Biden will likely put the rollback under abeyance, it will take months to get new rules in place, meaning Texans are not adequately protected from oil and gas air pollution.
Reed said there is nothing preventing both the RRC and TCEQ from doing more, except political will. The RRC could open up rulemaking hearings on its flaring and venting rule, and TCEQ could adopt state specific standards on methane through rulemaking as well. The legislature could adopt new standards or at least direct the agencies to undertake rulemaking and studies. Reed pointed to the experience of other states which have taken action.
Picking up on the theme, independent attorney David Baake --who has been representing the Sierra Club in New Mexico -- discussed recent efforts in Colorado, Alaska, North Dakota and especially New Mexico, which has begun two rulemakings to reduce methane emissions, flaring and venting. While not perfect, the rulemakings have allowed unprecedented public input and compromise with the oil and gas industry to arrive at goals to fundamentally reduce emissions, well by well. Baake suggested that Texas should be doing the same.
Before the session turned to questions and answers with participants, Representative Rosenthal said that the upcoming session would not be easy, with budget cuts and COVID-relief and a conservative majority that doesn’t usually favor additional regulation, is the new political reality. That being said, Rosenthal said increasing taxes on flared gas (which is currently not taxed) considering incentives, and directing agencies to take action on monitoring, studying and looking at new regulations are all on the table.
Stay tuned as Sierra Club and our allies continue to put pressure on our state agencies, the Biden Administration and the Legislature to take action to reduce emissions from oil and gas operators.
For a full recording, see here. Passcode: **Sha9en