Today, we crown one of the nation’s largest pipeline and energy infrastructure companies, Energy Transfer, as the Big Gas Polluter of the Month for February.
Original artwork from Indie184 accompanies this month’s announcement.
“We need standardized government rules cutting methane across the whole methane gas supply chain,” said Dakota Raynes, Senior Manager of Research, Policy, and Data at Earthworks. “All the efforts by drilling operators to lower emissions and implement more robust monitoring programs are half measures if their gas continues to be transported by companies routinely venting copious amounts of methane.”
Energy Transfer owns the pipelines transporting about 30% of all U.S. “natural” gas. While declaring it is “committed to protecting and preserving the environment,” and that it conducted 3,400 gas imaging inspections in 2024. However, both on-the-ground observation as well as super-emitter pollution events captured by satellite tell a different story.
Satellite data suggests Energy Transfer facilities were the source of a multitude of pollution events large enough to be visible from space in 2025. In total, more than 40 plumes spotted in Carbon Mapper’s publicly accessible data portal appeared next to Energy Transfer facilities last year.
Several pollution incidents were documented several times, suggesting more sustained pollution releases, including:
- The company’s Red Lake Gas Plant, near Stanton, Texas, was observed three times last year by Carbon Mapper’s Tanager satellite, and it was seen emitting hundreds of kilograms of methane on each occasion, including a plume estimated at 1,000 kilograms per hour on November 5th.
- The company’s Waha Header Compressor Station, near Coyanosa, Texas, appeared to be emitting hundreds to thousands of kilograms of methane in March, June, August, September, October, and November 2025.
Earthworks detected evidence of pollution at two Energy Transfer midstream sites in November 2025 using a hand-held optical gas imaging camera. At one facility in the New Mexico Permian, a faulty flare was releasing methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for more than 2 hours – a release so large that it was visible through an optical gas imaging camera from over 4.5 miles away. At the other site in Texas, evidence was captured of a blowdown event that led to an investigation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Energy Transfer generated more than $15 billion in earnings before taxes and depreciation in 2024.
“The public rightfully demands and expects that companies this large and profitable lead the way in delivering energy with the lowest possible emissions,” said Geoff Bromaghim, Gas Leaks’ Director of Methane Accountability. “Instead we see a company that is making headlines again and again for all the wrong reasons: from pocketing billions off the tragedy of Winter Storm Uri to the massive political donations it uses to keep the rules rigged in its favor to the numerous air and water pollution events dumped on the communities living nearby; Energy Transfer needs to finally commit to cleaning up its act.”
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About Big Gas Polluters
BigGasPolluters.org was launched to provide credible, evidence-based information on the claims and actions of the fossil fuel industry. The campaign includes a database documenting reported methane emissions, commitments made to reduce methane, evidence of leakage events from Earthworks, and more information about the 100 largest oil and gas companies in the US. It has never been more critical to fact-check claims regarding climate pollution, and BigGasPolluters is here to monitor methane pollution, hold the industry accountable, and serve as a resource in these uncertain times.
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