Texas produces and refines more oil and gas than any other state, and is the country’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Oil and gas production, transportation and refining are carbon-intensive by their very nature — but there’s at least one source of pollution from the industry that’s entirely preventable: methane that is wasted through flaring, venting or leaking.
In terms of greenhouse effect, methane is 80 times more potent than CO2 during its first 20 years in the atmosphere. But the harm caused by the unnecessary waste of methane goes beyond climate destruction; it also costs Texas hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue, makes people sick and deprives the energy market of gas stocks that could power the state’s entire residential grid, with capacity to spare.
