In 2021, two-thirds of Texans lost their power in a deadly winter storm, largely because natural gas lines and infrastructure froze.

But new rules targeting poorly weatherized lines have so far resulted in only $30,500 in fines against gas companies — all for paperwork issues, Shelby Webb reports. Her investigation found that the Texas Railroad Commission — which despite its name oversees the state’s vast oil and gas network — issued weatherization citations for just 3 percent of the state’s “critical” natural gas facilities last year.

That’s raising concerns that the natural-gas-reliant state won’t be prepared for its next big freeze.

Railroad Commission spokesperson RJ DeSilva noted that some fines are at the discretion of the state attorney general.

Current rules and inspections are working, he said, pointing out that there was “more than enough gas” to keep the electricity on during two storms this past winter. (Both were less intense than the brutal cold snap of 2021.)

But the record of the elected Railroad Commission stands in stark contrast with the appointed Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees the state’s utilities and implements rules governing its electric system.

The PUC quickly adopted and began enforcing new weatherization rules for power plants after the winter disaster.

In the past two years, it has imposed a total of $900,000 in administrative penalties on six generators, four of which were also ordered to invest $1.2 million into their operations. Another pending case could impose a seven-figure bill on one power company.

Why the difference? Independent observers say the divergent levels of scrutiny for utilities and gas companies is largely because of Texas leaders’ lingering skepticism of renewable energy.

Politicians and Texas regulators publicly blame electricity producers but “with the subtext that [they] rely too much on wind and solar,” said Hugh Daigle, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Texas, Austin.

“There’s a significant political statement in that,” he said, “but then you have a lot of these analyses and white papers that show the natural gas supply caused a significant amount of the disruptions.”

Also worth noting: The Railroad Commission’s three elected leaders — all Republicans — have each received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from people and companies tied to Texas’ fossil fuel industry, as POLITICO has reported. They also own stock in oil- and gas-related companies, among other business and personal ties to the industry.

It’s World Chess Day — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO’s Power Switch. I’m your host, Corbin Hiar. Arianna will be back soon! Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to [email protected]

Clarification: An item in Tuesday’s newsletter offered an incomplete description of federal approval of the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. The Trump administration approved a permit for the project, but the Biden administration also supports the mine and defended the Trump-era action in court.

Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Zack Colman goes inside climate envoy John Kerry’s trip to Beijing and where the U.S.-China climate talks will go from there.

Touting turbines

President Joe Biden traveled to a Philadelphia shipyard Thursday to highlight his support for offshore wind energy as the 2024 presidential campaign heats up, write Robin Bravender and Heather Richards. His administration also announced the first-ever sale of wind development leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

Wind windfall

The United Kingdom government has more than halved the rate of public funding it gives King Charles III, writes Charlie Cooper. The reason: The monarch is making big profits through offshore wind projects on the Crown Estate.

Rent increase

In a win for conservation groups, the Biden administration plans to increase the amount of money oil companies must provide before they can drill on public lands by as much as twentyfold, writes Heather Richards. Jacking up the bonding requirements would be among the administration’s most ambitious steps to rein in fossil fuel development.

An unlikely pledge: Germany’s second-largest electricity producer — with four active coal mines and four coal-fired power stations — has vowed to reinvent itself as a powerhouse of renewable energy.

Finders, keepers: A decade ago, U.S. government geologists documented a vast deposit of lithium and other minerals in Afghanistan that might be worth $1 trillion. Now the Taliban is looking to exploit those reserves — with the help of Chinese companies.

A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.

The United States and China agreed this week to keep talking about climate change — but it’s what went unsaid that will prove important in the coming years.

Latin American countries are making clear they will no longer accept extractive relationships with the European Union, which is racing to secure supplies of lithium, the “white gold” needed to power electric vehicle batteries.

Tesla Inc. offered new details about its EV-charging arrangements with other automakers, adding that its storage business is booming and its solar enterprise is fading.

That’s it for today, folks! Time to switch off.