Gas is burned off from an oil well in West Texas.
A pair of bills filed for the 2021 Texas legislative session would curb the use of natural gas flaring and venting common in oil and gas drilling.
Flaring the controlled burning of excess gas and venting release the harmful greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. Oil and gas producers in Texas flared and vented more natural gas than any other state in 2019, according to federal data.
HB 896 would direct the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to develop state standards to limit flaring and venting, while HB 897 would direct TCEQ and the Texas Railroad Commission to study existing and potential regulations to find to lower pollution “through regulations and incentives,” according to the bills sponsor, state Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City.