State regulators raise doubts about natural gas flaring permits but rarely reject them. Advocates for reform say the permit process is a “rubber stamp” and that companies shouldn’t get a free pass to keep flaring indefinitely.
By Martha Pskowski
October 18th, 2023
Since 2019, when the Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition, an industry group, was formed and the Railroad Commission appointed a “Blue Ribbon Task Force” on flaring in 2020, the practice has received more scrutiny in Texas.
But whatever the reason for flaring, the Railroad Commission has granted companies wide leeway to apply for exceptions to this rule and has long approved almost all of their flaring requests.
The RRC has granted thousands of Rule 32 exceptions so far this year, requiring companies to provide little evidence that they tried to prevent flaring.
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