Texas Railroad Commission Fights Commonsense Clean Air Protections

(AUSTIN — June 8, 2016) The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) took an unfortunate step this week by recommending Texas file yet another lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The commissioners are urging the state to take legal action against new regulations that would limit methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, despite the fact that these regulations will help secure important climate and clean air protections.

 “It’s disappointing that the Railroad Commission is working against EPA on putting these important protections in place, especially because the agency’s new methane rule is an extremely cost-effective tool to help reduce the nearly 10 million metric tons of methane pollution the oil and gas industry is emitting each year.

“It is also disheartening to see the commission – which is responsible for ensuring Texas’ oil and gas resources are managed responsibly – is downplaying the environmental benefits of these protections when data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that methane is responsible for approximately 25 percent of manmade global warming.

“The Texas oil and gas industry produces more methane emissions than any other state. Rather than fight against these commonsense protections, we hope the commission will choose to work with EPA to help implement commonsense climate and clean air protections that the vast majority of Americans support and that Texans deserve.”

·         Colin Leyden, Senior Manager, State Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, Oil & Gas