Texas environmentalists push the EPA to crack down on methane emissions, saying state agencies have “failed us”

Pump jacks and a natural gas flare near Pecos. A proposed EPA rule could set strict new limits on how much methane — a major component of natural gas — is released into the atmosphere. (Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune)

The Environmental Protection Agency got an earful from Texans this month.

In a marathon three-day public hearing, close to 300 people across the country gave comments on the agency’s supplemental proposal to reduce methane in oil and natural gas operations. Many called in from Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and other oil and gas producing states that drive U.S. methane emissions.