Last year, during Texas’s devastating winter freeze, oil refineries, chemical manufacturers and other industrial plants emitted a whopping 4.7m pounds of excess chemicals into the air that millions of people breathe.

The storm was an example of how industrial emissions can spike during and immediately after natural disasters. But in a surprising move last Friday, Texas state regulators announced that wide-scale deployment of agency staff for air monitoring in these critical moments to be “often unnecessary.”

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) admits repeated gaps in its tracking of industrial pollution in the first days of natural disasters. Advocates worry that failing to measure air pollution at the time when emissions may be greatest has an adverse effect on the marginalized communities burdened by unhealthy air. This move comes just as the state braces for another major winter storm.

The Texas gulf coast is home to one of the largest concentrations of petrochemical and chemical plants in the world. Industrial plants usually stop operating ahead of storms and hurricanes to avoid accidents. However, these shutdowns and reboots can cause increased emissions as facilities burn off excess chemicals in a process known as flaring, clear lines and vents, and switch to less efficient operation modes.

The state regulator has a network of more than 200 stationary air monitors across the state. Most go offline ahead of the storm to avoid damage. Before regulators can switch to mobile and handheld monitoring, there is a lapse in real-time knowledge of what people are breathing. And it is during that gap that increased amounts of carcinogens like benzene, highly irritant sulfur di