DALLAS — There is growing support in Austin for adding another layer of oversight to the state’s natural gas industry. And state Sen. Nathan Johnson says it would likely look a lot like the independent market monitor already in place for the electricity industry.
The Democrat from Dallas says many folks, from lawmakers to the industry itself, were initially opposed to an electricity monitor, but they now realize it helps the market function better.
“An independent market monitor has the authority and the mission of making sure people aren't misbehaving, making sure they're not breaking the rules of the market, making sure they're not abusing market power,” Johnson said on Inside Texas Politics. “We rely on competitive markets to produce efficient and good outcomes. But if those competitive forces can't operate, the market doesn't work.”
The idea of adding this level of monitoring over the natural gas industry was recently discussed during a Texas Senate committee hearing reviewing changes made since last year’s devastating winter storm that left millions without power and hundreds dead.
Watch the segment below:
During that same hearing, Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Wayne Christian told concerned lawmakers he saw no need for any additional regulation that would affect the natural gas industry.
But many lawmakers disagreed, including Sen. Johnson. And the Democrat says it was bipartisan.
(Tanya Eiserer provides details from that hearing here: Texas power grid: Recent winterization changes, regulations | wfaa.com)
"Gas production in Texas has almost doubled in 20 years," said the senator. "And so it's not the same system that we had, and I think it's just now that legislators are catching their breath to be able to look at it instead of, frankly, the partisan stuff that had us hostage down in Austin for three or four months after the regular session."
Johnson says an independent monitor would also look at the efficiency of the natural gas market, making sure it’s working the way the state intends. And if not, it can provide insight to help it function better.
The senator says no specific legislation to create an independent monitor has been written yet. But he says he and other lawmakers are actively working the issue.
“The gas industry is not a monolith. There are producers, shippers, marketers, purchasers, transporters, compressors. It consists of a bunch of different people with different interests. If one segment of that has the upper hand, all the other segments suffer,” said the Democrat.