New Report & Tool to Track Flaring

The “Texas Flaring Project” released a website and a report today analyzing how the state’s oil and gas industry wastes valuable natural gas by flaring and venting it off as waste. Each year, oil and gas operators waste nearly $900 million worth of natural gas through flaring, burning off a valuable resource. Three Texas nonprofits produced the new reports so local communities can hold the industry and its regulators accountable for flaring pollution in their own backyards.

While Texas leads the nation in flaring, many residents are uninformed about the problem and its links to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as pregnancy complications. Charged with limiting these harms, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) often fall short, according to the reports by Commission Shift, the Rio Grande International Study Center, and Texans for Public Justice.

An interactive website titled “Texas Flaring Project” allows Texans to explore flaring in any county across the state.

“Serving the few over the many, Texas regulators encourage the flaring of huge clouds of natural gas. This harms our families, our environment, and our economy – which all richly deserve better leadership,” said
Andrew Wheat, Research Director, Texans for Public Justice

Permission Granted: Texas oil and gas regulators on track to allow more flaring waste than ever

A new investigative report reveals how the state oil and gas agency,

 the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), is on track to authorize venting or 

flaring an unprecedented 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas by the end of the decade — enough to fuel every residential gas customer in Texas for over 15 years. The RRC's permitting decisions enable extensive flaring activities, adversely affecting Texas's air quality, public health, and climate.

View the full report at Commission Shift. 

 The report was produced as part of a

 joint project between Commission Shift, Texans for Public Justice,

 and Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC).  

REPORT: Top Texas Officials Pocket $6.3 Million From Blackout Profiteers

Donors tied to 36 companies that private lawsuits allege manipulated natural gas markets to improperly profit from 2021’s deadly Winter Storm Uri contributed $6.3 million to seven top Texas officials a new study by Texans for Public Justice and Public Citizen’s Texas Office finds.

Read the news release:

Read the full report:

Report highlights RRC progress on designating critical energy infrastructure.

A new report from Commission Shift and Texans for Public Justice finds that most facilities on the natural gas supply chain have been designated critical. Poor agency record keeping procedures leave questions about which facilities have been granted or denied exceptions to critical infrastructure designation. Confidentiality requirements leave the public in the dark about which facilities will actually be required to be weatherized, while a handful of private companies enjoy special access to regulators and the electricity supply chain map.

Access the new report at Commission Shift.

From OPEN SECRETS: Conflicts at Texas Railroad Commission

 

While Texas’ top oil and gas regulators were deciding whether to permit a disputed oil waste disposal site, their campaigns raised tens of thousands of dollars from donors tied to the case.

Read the news at Open Secrets.

Remember freezing February at election time

By Tom "Smitty" Smith for the Dallas Morning News 

Opinion piece urges consumers to hold officials accountable for failure to require power plant weatherization.

Read Smitty's op-ed.

TPJ & Commission Shift Release 2nd 'Captive Agency' Report

The second in a series of reports called Captive Agency exposes deep conflicts among Texas Railroad Commissioners.  The latest report reveals that two thirds of the three current commissioners' campaign war chests were provided by the oil and gas industry.  The report takes a deep dive into Commission Chair Wayne Christian’s personal financial statements revealing potential conflicts of interest. The report also details campaign contributions received by the commissioners while deciding particular cases.

The Captive Agency reports propose a number of pro-consumer reforms.

 

Captive Agency: Report Details Conflicts at Railroad Commission

A report prepared by Texans for Public Justice and Commission Shift examines personal financial statements from the three railroad commissioners and exposes ties to the industry they regulate.

First in a series, the report reveals systemic problems with the railroad commission’s conflict of interest policies that allow commissioners to profit from the companies that they oversee.

Drill down into the Captive Agency report here.

The Old Green Deal: Oil & Gas Industry Abbott's Top Political Donor

Following Gov. Abbott's attempts to blame recent catastrophic power failures on renewable energy, TPJ finds that the oil and gas industry is Abbott's No. 1 contributor. It supplied 19 percent of the $87.3 million that Abbott raised since January 2017. Electric utility interests contributed more than $1 million more, with contributors who specialize in renewable power supplying just a trickle of that money.

Track this fundraising grid at the new Lobby Watch.