Permian Basin flares waste $577M of gas per year while 1-in-10 flares vent raw methane

Satellite data from MethaneSAT (launched 2024) reveals that the Permian Basin emits approximately 440 metric tons of methane per hour from oil and gas operations, wasting more than $577 million worth of natural gas annually through flaring and venting. Actual emissions are 4 times higher than what operators report to the EPA. Worse, ground surveys find that at least 1 in 10 flares are either completely unlit -- venting uncombusted methane straight into the atmosphere -- or burning so inefficiently they destroy only a fraction of the gas. Since 2013, Texas operators have burned off roughly one trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to meet the annual needs of every Texas household three times over. Who has this problem? Royalty owners who are paid based on sold gas, not flared gas, lose income. Nearby communities in the Permian breathe the combustion byproducts (NOx, VOCs, particulates). The atmosphere absorbs a potent greenhouse gas 80x more warming than CO2 over 20 years. Why does this persist? Texas has no effective penalties for routine flaring. The Texas Railroad Commission grants flaring permits almost automatically -- approving over 90% of requests. There is no pipeline capacity to capture all the associated gas from new wells, and operators drill anyway because the oil revenue dwarfs the gas value they are burning.