Texas Railroad Commission takes a step toward safeguarding some energy infrastructure

On Tuesday, one day before a state-mandated deadline, regulators at the Railroad Commission of Texas approved a rule outlining which Texas natural gas suppliers need to be ready to operate during energy emergencies. The vote begins to address a weak point in the state’s energy system that contributed to February’s deadly blackouts, though experts say it will not help protect the grid in the coming winter.

During February’s dayslong energy crisis, many Texas power plants could not produce electricity because natural gas stopped flowing to them. The main reason was weather-related failures along the state’s natural gas supply chain. A secondary reason was that gas suppliers themselves had their power cut as the state’s grid operator scrambled to conserve electricity.

The rule approved Tuesday creates a process to designate certain parts of that supply chain as “critical infrastructure.” The designation means the gas wells, compressor stations, pipelines and other components that produce and move gas to power plants should not have their power cut by utilities in an effort to conserve. Crucially, infrastructure deemed critical must also weatherize to be able to run even in extreme conditions.

An earlier version of the rule proposed by the Railroad Commission allowed natural gas suppliers to easily opt out of the critical infrastructure designation. That prompted a storm of criticism and calls for the resignation of the commissioners, elected officials who many say are too cozy with the industry they regulate.

The rule was stricter than the commission’s initial proposal. Among other things, it includes a process by which the commission would approve exemptions from regulation and guidelines for what types of gas suppliers might seek them.

Before voting, the commissioners downplayed the role natural gas failures played in the blackout and railed against critics.

“The winter storm has been used as a weapon by the media and the far left to attack fossil fuels,” Railroad Commission Chair Wayne Christian said.

But despite that tough talk, critics of the commission counted changes to the rule as a win.

“I think what we’re seeing is that the Railroad Commission responded to public pressure to do better on these standards,” said Virginia Palacios, executive director of Commission Shift, a group pushing to reform the state agency. “I think that if the public had not been watching the commission so closely and participating so much in this rule-making, we wouldn’t have seen the changes that we saw.”

Still, Palacios and others say the rule will do nothing to guard the state’s grid against cold weather this winter.

For one thing, the rule itself does not set standards to which natural gas infrastructure must weatherize. That will come sometime by mid-2022, up to six months after a group called the Electricity Supply Chain Security and Mapping Committee issues its own report on the state’s energy infrastructure.

After weatherization standards are determined, it’s unclear what deadline the Railroad Commission will set for compliance, and whether penalties it creates will be enough to get companies to comply.

“It’s frustrating that there’s not a weatherization standard in place before this winter,” said Doug Lewin, president of the consulting firm Stoic Energy. “But we all need to make sure that there’s one in place before next winter.”

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.