Even when policymakers set the easiest rules for fossil fuel producers to follow, it seems like many companies choose to show them anyway. A new one analysis of Earthworks suggests that oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin in Texas, one of the world’s largest oil fields, routinely emit carbon dioxide and methane without the right permits, with criminals including big names like Shell and Exxon.
The Permian basin has had all sorts of methane-related problems, particularly filter equipment and wellheads. But the new report delves into another important source: flare and ventilation, which companies often use. pouring or burning unwanted gases into the atmosphere.
“Gas is not what they are looking for,” said report author Sharon Wilson, who noted that companies are largely looking for more profitable oil. “It’s not worth your time and money because it’s harder to transport gas to the market unless the price of gas is very high.”
The new analysis is based on data from a variety of sources, including data collected by the Environmental Protection Fund over three flyovers from 1,000 sites in a Permian basin district, where the group used special control equipment to observe flares. The Earthworks team referred to this with data from the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), the confusing state regulatory body responsible for overseeing the oil and gas industry. The commission issues steep permits, but the results of the analysis show that many companies are sneaking into the regulations.
The results are quite strong: of the 227 flares observed during the three flyovers, 84% did not have an associated permit. It’s not just the smaller producers who are cutting corners. Large producers also break the rules. Exxon and Shell are both on the list of ground work companies caught springing up without permission. Both companies, Earthworks noted in its report, have approved more flare and ventilation regulations; Shell is part of an initiative based at the World Bank called “Zero Routine Flaring for 2030”.
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Jack McDonald, one of the authors of the Earthworks report, noted that while springing without a permit is not automatically illegal – there are some cases under Texas law that allow unauthorized outbreaks – the requirements for in the occurrence of unauthorized outbreaks are so specific that it is very unlikely that this huge volume of flares observed in your report meets all these requirements.
“It also involves any data that the Railway Commission has on the flames,” he added. “Their fundamental assumption about flareing is that they know when a flaring is occurring, and that doesn’t seem to be the case in this analysis.”
The RRC has one deep history of climate denial and a close relationship with the oil and gas industry, and not monitoring these outbreaks is just one piece of the puzzle. The report also found that the commission is lax about the execution of the permits it issues. The RRC granted only 108 permits for the blaze in 2008. By 2019, that figure had grown 65 times above 6,792 permits. Although the fossil fuel industry in Texas has exploded during this time, which would lead to more applications, Earthworks also noted in its report that the RRC tends to “seal rubber” most soles. · Flame permit applications.
McDonald noted that the RRC’s compliance mechanism for controlling explosions is based “primarily on good faith.” Last year, the RRC only issued just over 100 offenses for unauthorized burns and McDonald said it is “extremely rare” for the RRC to issue a fine for an offense.
Wilson said the RRC has a “stated goal” of visiting each production site only once every five years for inspection and that oil and gas producers “know there is no chance of them being trapped.” Given how lax the RRC is, it has a deep history of climate denial and a close relationship with the oil and gas industry—The Earthworks report also examined whether producers are sneaking into regulations and soaring with abandonment.
“A big part of the reason the Railroad Commission is bad at this is because they have no way to monitor the flames,” McDonald said. “They have to accept the word of the operators.”
In an email to Earther, an RRC spokesman said there were “flaws in Earthworks’ analysis” and that the “conclusion of the report is based on incomplete data or inaccurate assumptions,” noting that there were 36 exceptions. blatant that Earthworks had lost. and that “a short-term observation of a high-pass flare and the absence of an explicit exception does not necessarily mean that the flare observed is illegal.” The spokesman also noted that RRC data show that outbreaks in the state have fallen in the last two years and said the RRC has “undertaken extensive work” to improve concession processes and compliance.
However, tThe lazy approach to RRC regulation mentioned in the report presents serious risks to the climate. Last week Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Found methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry they are on the rise and need to be addressed. Other recent reports have also shown one as to the amount of methane it is being released into the atmosphere by fossil fuel companies. Gas is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, making the need for stricter regulations increasingly vital.
Flare reduction is often presented as a low-hanging fruit climate solution. It is a problem that we have the technology to solve and that have big oil and gas producers like Shell He paid a lot of lip service to, stating that they are working as a central part of their climate plans. In an already lax regulatory environment, it’s weird that so many producers simply choose an agency that has made it pretty clear that they’ll let them do what they want.
JoTexas state regulators, one of the world’s largest oil and gas regulators, do not appear to be in the works any time soon.. In July, the RRC and the Texas Department of Environmental Quality sent a joint letter to the EPA complaining about the Biden administration’s new methane regulations, claiming that Texas has a “robust air permit program” and claiming that any additional requirements to control methane emissions “is weighed by to the regulated community, duplicated and therefore unnecessary “.
For Wilson, it is clear that regulation of producers in the country’s largest oil and gas producing area must come from above. Texas regulators “have no interest in regulating this industry,” he said. “President Biden made some pretty bold statements when he campaigned for strong climate action and any climate action should be considered Texas. Biden has to deal with Texas. “