Interactive Platform Reveals Gaps Between State-Authorized, Company-Reported, and Satellite-Observed Flaring Data

The “Texas Flaring Project” released a website and a report today analyzing how the state’s oil and gas industry wastes valuable natural gas by flaring and venting it off as waste. Each year, oil and gas operators waste nearly $900 million worth of natural gas through flaring, burning off a valuable resource. These massive releases of carbon dioxide, methane, and other pollutants harm public health, fuel extreme weather, and deepen environmental injustices. Three Texas nonprofits produced the new reports so local communities can hold the industry and its regulators accountable for flaring pollution in their own backyards.

While Texas leads the nation in flaring, many residents are uninformed about the problem and its links to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as pregnancy complications. Charged with limiting these harms, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) often fall short, according to the reports by Commission Shift, the Rio Grande International Study Center, and Texans for Public Justice.

An interactive website titled “Texas Flaring Project” allows Texans to explore flaring in any county across the state.

The interactive website explains how different data sources paint widely divergent pictures of Texas flaring. Those data sources include:

1. The volumes of gas that state regulators allow oil and gas operators to flare;
2. The volumes that those operators actually report flaring; and
3. Flaring volumes observed by satellites.

The Railroad Commission of Texas could use permits to reduce flaring. Instead, the agency routinely approves flaring far more gas than operators report ever actually flaring — indicating that the permits are not reducing gas releases. Meanwhile, a third source of flaring data, independent satellites, falls in between what the agency permits and what operators report. Satellites observe significantly larger flaring volumes than operators report — and considerably less than the RRC authorizes them to flare.

The findings and early stages of the website have been shared during community events hosted by RGISC across the South Texas Eagle Ford Shale region. Residents found the information important and informative.

“Estoy de acuerdo de tener un tipo de systema de moniteria, por que la gente no esta altante de lo que esta pasando el la menera que nos esta afectando y ni nos estamos dando cuenta de donde viene.”
I agree with having some kind of monitoring system, because people are not aware of what is happening in the way that it is affecting us, nor do we realize where it is coming from.
Mr. Humberto Reyna, La Salle County Resident

“This event brought attention to the environmental and health risks of methane emissions. I believe it was a valuable opportunity for the community to learn, voice concerns, and advocate for stronger protections.”
Ms. Alexa Alvarez, Webb County Resident

“The community should be informed about the importance of staying aware of what is happening… especially regarding harmful chemicals that can affect our health. Sometimes, we don’t realize that these substances are dangerous. We see factories and warehouses, but we don’t always know what is being released into the air, which could lead to various health issues.”
Elizabeth Delgado, Webb County Resident

A 12-page companion report, “Comparing Railroad Commission of Texas Flaring Permit Volumes with Satellite Observations and Company-Reported Data,” takes a closer look at these data in four South Texas counties: Dimmit, La Salle, McMullen, and Webb. That report finds the same pattern of differences between the flaring data sources (see chart below). It recommends ways that the Railroad Commission of Texas could fix these discrepancies, while taking steps to rein in wasteful flaring releases that harm health and squander wealth. Flaring deprives the state of jobs in a growing methane mitigation services industry and tax revenues from gas that would otherwise go to market.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is developing its State Implementation Plan (SIP) on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s methane rule, which was finalized during the Biden Administration. The rule includes a provision for states to end routine flaring, and the Railroad Commission of Texas will likely play a role in implementing the federal rule. The interactive website invites Texans to sign up for updates to participate in the SIP process with TCEQ scheduled for this fall.

“Texans living in the shadow of flaring pollution deserve to know the truth about what’s happening in their own backyards. This website will empower Texas communities with the data and tools they need to demand real accountability from industry and the agencies tasked with protecting public health. At the end of the day, we must ensure that companies keep pollution where it belongs – in the pipe, not in our air.”
Martin Castro, Watershed Science Director, Rio Grande International Study Center

“Serving the few over the many, Texas regulators encourage the flaring of huge clouds of natural gas. This harms our families, our environment, and our economy – which all richly deserve better leadership,” said
Andrew Wheat, Research Director, Texans for Public Justice

“Flaring is not under control, the way state leaders and industry associations would have us believe. Our analysis demonstrates that the Railroad Commission needs a new flaring policy that does what Texans expect it to do: protect public health and prevent waste.”
Virginia Palacios, Executive Director, Commission Shift

Press Contact
SJ Stout
Senior Communications Manager, Commission Shift
(865) 604-6429
sjstout@commissionshift.org