New Study Warns Oil and Gas Boom could Drastically Increase Greenhouse Gas Pollution

Environment Texas Calls for Stop to Infrastructure Buildout

Environment Texas

AUSTIN–Today, a new study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that oil, gas and petrochemical development in the Gulf Coast and Southwest regions of the U.S. could release over 500 billion additional tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2030. 

Texas produces 41% of the nation’s oil and is home to approximately 30% of U.S. refinery capacity and 75% of U.S. petrochemical production. In the study, researchers found that Texas and Louisiana account for the vast majority of projected emissions from new oil and gas infrastructure. 

“From wildfires in Australia to extreme flooding during Hurricane Harvey, this report adds to a mounting pile of evidence that we need to move aggressively to eliminate our dependence on oil and gas,” said Emma Pabst, Global Warming Associate with Environment Texas. “Instead, Texas is embarking on a fool’s errand, building infrastructure that will lock us into decades of polluting fossil fuels, and impairing our ability to achieve what our climate reality requires.” 

A study released last week from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) similarly found that future oil and gas industry expansions, over half of which are planned for Texas and Louisiana, could release up to 227 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. EIP’s report examines emissions from permitted sources through 2025, while UT’s study examines emissions from both “future permitted and nonpermitted” sources through the year 2030.

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Environment Texas advocates for clean air, clean water, and preservation of Texas’s natural areas on behalf of approximately 7,500 members statewide.