In February, members of the Texas Railroad Commission finally got the message. The three commissioners of the regulatory body that oversees the state’s oil and gas sector voted to crack down on flaring, a practice whereby producers burn usable natural gas they don’t have the capacity to transport. In Texas, flaring releases literal tons of methane, a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere each year.
It was a strange decision, considering the Commission has approved 35,000 flaring permits since 2013 without a single denial. Last year, voters elected Jim Wright to the Commission, a climate change denier and oil and gas businessman who has racked up thousands of dollars in pollution fines.
So why did the commissioners do an about-face on flaring this winter? One answer: Environmental activists used their international muscle to hit the Texas gas industry in the wallet.
