Texas Campaign for the Environment project “Save Texas”, just released its official list of top polluters from the oil and natural gas industry. The “Terrible 12”, as the list is called, identified some of the Lone Star State’s largest and most well-known oil and gas companies; a true list of infamy. As of just last month, two fossil fuel giants that topped the TCE’s list were found responsible for a natural gas pipeline line leak that emitted over 900 metric tons of methane.
Texas Campaign for the Environment’s Executive Director, Robin Schneider, says the TCE selected these companies based on a unique set of factors including high emissions and exports; low safety records; frequent run-ins with federal regulators; record of deadly disasters; and a harmful history with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color ( BIPOC) communities. Although this list isn’t exhaustive, it highlights those fossil fuel corporations that have routinely polluted the planet and ignored the pleads of communities demanding cleaner and more sustainable methods of energy generation.
The entire 12-company long list can be found here, where TCE details the names, company backgrounds, and their individual wrongdoings. However, when reached out for comment by Spectrum News1, only four companies responded to being named on the list. The four responses, coincidentally, shared a similar dissent with the listing. Sempra, Sentinel Midstream, and Enbridge each disagreed with the listing assertions; one spokesperson for Enbridge went further, and included their sustainability report, for details on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts, as a rebuttal.
The TCE’s list exemplifies how these companies have harmed their local communities, imposing social pressure to fasten a transition toward a cleaner energy economy. A recent report from UT Austin states that the decarbonization of the energy sector and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 will actually be beneficial to the state. Therefore, exposing these top emitter companies for their failings is in pursuit to achieve a cleaner planet and flourishing economy, especially as the world transitions away from fossil fuels.
However, that’s not to say that natural gas and oil companies should become obsolete. These organizations have a role to play in decarbonization, as UT energy experts point out. Having natural gas included in the energy sector’s mix can actually provide beneficial dispatchability when additional energy resources are unavailable. But necessary regulations need to be in place to eliminate potential leaks and ensure the capture and reduction of greenhouse gasses.
This past March, a natural gas pipeline in Texas leaked methane, a greenhouse gas, for over an hour racking up emissions equivalent to the annual emissions from roughly 16,000 U.S. cars. The specific leak came from a 16-inch pipe that was a small part of a large unregulated gathering line across the U.S. This single incident alone shows the massive climatic impacts that unregulated natural gas lines can impose.
This pipeline is jointly owned by Energy Transfer LP, and Kinder Morgan, both companies included in the “Terrible 12”. The line break occurred on the pipeline, Big Cowboy, and will likely trap as much heat as 75,600 tons of carbon dioxide during its initial decades in the atmosphere, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
Energy Transfer earned its spot on the “Terrible 12” because of its long history of oil spills and safety violations, and recent 48 criminal charges, from Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, for wrongly discarding industrial waste, violating the state’s Clean Streams Law. Energy Transfer also price-gouged natural gas during the 2021 winter storm, collecting $2.4 billion. Kinder Morgan earned its placement on the list because of its history of over 400 pipeline-related incidents across 24 states that included spills, fires, explosions, and more. And in Texas, Kinder Morgan was behind the 430-mile Permian Highway natural gas pipeline from West Texas to the Gulf Coast, where its construction contaminated drinking water with spilled drilling fluid.
These are just two of the 12 fossil fuel corporations that have earned their spot on the “Terrible 12”. To find more information about each corporation, visit the Texas Campaign for the Environment’s “Terrible 12” website and their Save Texas project.