AUSTIN, Texas — The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) is adopting new rules for natural gas regulators. They are intended to prevent another systemic failure, like the deadly winter freeze of 2021.
“The Texas Railroad Commission has issued new rules to require the weatherization of almost 65,000 critical parts of the infrastructure of the natural gas system in Texas,” said Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston. “This is because natural gas is used to feed our electricity generation fleet, or about 30-40% of the generators we have online during peak hours. During the freeze in Feb. 2021, there were indications that natural gas service froze in some areas and this contributed to the blackouts that were suffered by consumers across Texas.”
The RRC implemented these rules because the Texas legislature said it had to in Senate Bill 3. Natural gas facilities can choose how they “weatherize” their equipment for extreme cold and heat.
“One natural gas producer made it through the freeze by wrapping his wellheads and equipment with vinyl shower curtains from the dollar store. Now, others will have the ability to enclose these in buildings or sheds or wrap insulation around them,” Hirs said.
The new rules say natural gas facilities must protect their infrastructure by Dec. 1. Fines for noncompliance can be between $3,000 and one million dollars. Hirs said we have to wait for the next extreme weather event to know if the RRC will actually charge those fees.
“Is it sufficient? We don’t know yet,” Hirs said.
He noted that several government agencies don’t have the trust of Texans.
“The issue facing the Railroad Commission, ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission, the legislature, and the governor is that their credibility has been shot to heck,” Hirs said. “For years and years, we’ve seen this problem with the electricity grid, and with the natural gas grid, and no one did anything about it. Millions of Texans suffered in February 2021. And every day, we’re looking at the ERCOT app to see if we’re going to have enough electricity at four o’clock this afternoon. That's not the way life is supposed to be in Texas. We're supposed to be able to count on on air conditioning being on, the traffic lights operating. And instead, in May and in June, we had ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission, calling for us to turn our thermostats to 78 degrees."
Luke Warford is running against Republican Chairman Wayne Christian. He said Texas knew it needed grid improvements after extreme weather over a decade ago.
“We knew going back to a storm in 2011 that our natural gas infrastructure was not prepared for cold weather,” Warford said. “And the Texas Railroad Commission simply didn’t take the action it needed to.”
And even though there are new weatherization rules, he said they’re still not harsh enough.
“It doesn’t really have teeth to ensure enforcement and make sure that Texans are safe,” Warford said. “The Railroad Commission has a track record of not enforcing the rules... There’s no reason to think that this would somehow be different than their weak enforcement or lack of enforcement of all of the other rules that they have on the books.”
Chairman Christian and Commissioner Christi Craddick declined interview requests. Commissioner Jim Wright did not respond.
In the meeting Tuesday, where the rules were adopted, Wright said the penalties go far beyond fines.
“Repeat and deliberate attempts to avoid compliance with 3.66 will not be taken lightly by the Commission and it will result in referral to the Attorney General,” Wright said.
Natural gas facilities will have to pay to prepare their infrastructure for extreme weather. That might hurt your wallet.
“Those costs of weatherization will be passed along to consumers and in the form of higher prices for natural gas,” Hirs said.
It’s too soon to know if weatherizing equipment will actually protect Texans this winter. Experts also say Texas could use some new facilities all together.
“Relying on a 50-year-old coal fired plant and a 30-year-old natural gas fired plant is like relying on your grandfather’s 35-year-old Cadillac, or Chevrolet, or pickup truck to get you around,” Hirs said. “Things are going to break, and they’ve been breaking with increasing frequency.”