Photo: Gas flaring off Highway 191, North of Midland Airport, by Al Braden
By Cyrus Reed
Last month, a new poll released by EDF Action, Earthworks Action Fund, Sierra Club, and CATF Action found that two-thirds of voters in Texas want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take strong action to cut methane pollution from oil and gas pollution, and almost 60% want to end routine flaring of methane altogether. The poll has been garnering increased attention in recent weeks.
Sierra Club and many allied organizations like EDF, Earthworks, and Commission Shift have been advocating for years to get the EPA to step up to the plate and reduce pollution from oil and gas operators that are hurting our health and cooking our climate. Methane - the main component of gas - is a super-climate disruptor and hundreds of thousands of metric tons are released each year in Texas, mainly from the Permian Basin. The Biden Administration is expected to take action this fall.
“Everything is bigger in Texas, including support for commonsense efforts to cut methane pollution and energy waste from our oil and gas industry. This poll demonstrates that voters in Texas overwhelmingly want strong EPA safeguards to eliminate emissions from flaring to protect their health and the planet,” said Elizabeth Lieberknecht, Regulatory and Legislative Manager, Midcontinent, EDF Action.
“Our state agencies charged with protecting the public - the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Railroad Commission - have failed to adopt common sense rules to lower emissions, and they routinely allow flaring to occur all over Texas. There is no question that Texans want clean air. EPA needs to step up and finalize a rule that limits methane emissions, including emissions from routine flaring, by the end of the summer,” said Cyrus Reed, Conservation Director at the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter.
Some Topline Findings:
- The poll demonstrates that a strong majority (about two thirds) of voters in Texas support President Biden’s efforts to swiftly enact stronger limits on methane pollution from oil and gas development to protect the air we breathe, safeguard the health and well being of our families and climate, and create jobs.
- Voters in Texas – the top U.S. oil and gas producing state – as well as other key battleground states in presidential elections strongly support stricter limits on air pollution and efforts to combat the climate crisis. A strong majority of voters in Texas support the EPA efforts to significantly cut air pollution from the oil and gas industry.
- Most Texas voters in the poll acknowledge that climate change is a major problem, agree that the U.S. government should take strong action to combat the climate crisis, and agree that we need stricter regulations to reduce air pollution from the oil and gas industry.
- Strong majorities also support further action from EPA to rein in pollution from routine flaring, as 58% of Texas voters agreed that the EPA should strengthen its proposal to eliminate emissions from routine flaring.
- Strong majorities agree that stronger methane limits will have a positive impact on air quality (62%), health (57%), climate change (55%), and reducing waste from the oil and gas industry (58%).
- When forced to choose, a 58% to 42% majority of Texas voters agree that stronger methane limits will “create more jobs by encouraging innovation and investments in technology” rather than “destroying more jobs by increasing costs and making American oil and gas companies less competitive.”
Background to Proposed EPA Rule:
In November 2022, President Biden and the EPA issued an updated draft rule to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations. The updated rule makes important improvements and builds on the original draft rule proposed in 2021, but must be further strengthened. In order to meaningfully address climate change, protect public health, and create new jobs, the final EPA methane rule must maintain the comprehensive leak detection and repair (LDAR) standards, ensure that operators at wells capture associated gas and eliminate pollution from routine flaring, maintain zero-emitting pneumatic equipment requirements, strengthen the standards to address emissions from storage tanks, provide a clear pathway for communities and individuals to participate and engage in the Super Emitter Response Program, and maintain the requirement that abandoned wells are subject to inspections until closure.
Reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is the quickest, most cost-effective way to slow the rate of climate change and protect communities across the country.
An estimated 17.3 million people across the country, including 3.9 million children, live within half a mile of oil and gas facilities. Oil and gas air pollution disproportionately impacts many historically marginalized or vulnerable communities; living near oil and gas wells is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease, impaired lung function, anxiety, depression, preterm birth and impaired fetal growth.