The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) has adopted rules designating the “critical” natural gas suppliers and customers during energy emergencies in the wake of last February’s Winter Storm Uri.

power outages

RRC Chairman Wayne Christian said the commission “adopted a ‘critical designation’ rule to ensure our natural gas supply is prepared for future energy emergencies…critical facilities including more than 19,000 of the state’s natural gas production facilities will be required to weatherize and be prepared to operate in future winter weather events.”

RRC has estimated the rulemaking would require compliance from about 6,200 operating companies.

Uri caused more than 30 GW of electric generation capacity to go offline and thousands of people to be in the dark during freezing...