Texans Flee Toxic Oil Fields While State Rubber-Stamps Pollution Permits

State agencies are failing to protect Texans from deadly oil field emissions. Over 40 months, the Railroad Commission approved 99.6% of flaring permits, rejecting only 53 out of 12,000 applications. This allows companies to waste 195 billion cubic feet of natural gas each year while poisoning our communities (ProPublica, 2025). This gas could power 3 million homes and generate millions in tax revenue that Texas desperately needs. Hakim Dermish watched his South Texas town of Catarina change from a peaceful rural community to a toxic nightmare. After a pipeline explosion shook his house and released 23 million cubic feet of escaping gas into the air, he and his wife evacuated out of fear for their lives. His neighbor, Lupe Campos, lives three blocks from a flare spewing hydrogen sulfide that smells like “burnt rotten eggs.” Texas researchers found that hydrogen sulfide levels at wells reached over 300 parts per million, triple the level immediately dangerous to life or health (Texas Tribune, September 2024). These toxins can cause memory loss, respiratory damage, and neurological symptoms. Sheriff Tom Pohlman fought a year-long battle against a 45-foot flare burning continuously in his Fisher County neighborhood. Despite neighbors’ pleas about the “constant roar” ruining their peace, the Texas Railroad Commission approved another 18 months of flaring. This regulatory failure worsens climate change in a state already ranked among the top 10 most vulnerable nationwide. The permitted emissions have a climate impact equivalent to 27 gas-fired power plants running annually (ProPublica, 2025). Texas has warmed by 1.5°F over the past century, leading to more severe droughts threatening 60% of the state's water resources for agriculture (Earth.Org, 2024). Since 1980, Texas has experienced 190 climate disasters costing billions, while agencies continue rubber-stamping pollution permits (NOAA, 2024). Fossil fuel pollution costs Americans over $820 billion annually in health damages, and environmental destruction adds to this through failed crops, damaged ecosystems, and intensified extreme weather (NRDC, 2025). We demand immediate action: reject flaring permits without objective justification, impose strict penalties on repeat violators, and require companies to capture gas instead of burning it. This reckless waste of resources and the poisoning of our air harm Texas’s agricultural economy and worsen climate disasters already costing billions each year. Texans deserve protection from toxic emissions and environmental damage, not empty promises while our air becomes unbreathable and communities are forced to flee. Protect Texas families and our environment now!