Hidden Super Polluters Revealed in Wake of Texas Energy Crisis
Two natural gas plants belonging to Targa Resources were responsible for more emissions during this year’s winter storm than any of the biggest U.S. oil refineries, state records show.
Oil and gas infrastructure dominates the landscape in Crane, Texas, where Targa’s Sand Hills gas plant suffered power outages in February and caused unauthorized emissions to leak for four and a half days.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThe polar blast in Texas earlier this year revealed a dirty secret in the most prolific U.S. oil field: Two under-the-radar natural gas plants that are a persistent source of pollution.
Natural disasters in the state often turn into environmental disasters, and February’s cold wave was no exception. Stricken by power outages and mechanical failures, industrial facilities burned off or released huge quantities of hazardous gases as they shut down. The worst culprits, however, weren’t the vast petrochemical complexes on the Gulf Coast but the two Permian Basin facilities that take raw gas from wells and purify it into sales-quality fuel.