Texas ordered dangerous gas pipes removed 25 years ago. One was linked to a recent Lake Dallas home explosion.

Texas ordered gas companies to remove a dangerous type of natural gas pipe more than 25 years ago. Yet earlier this year, the same type of pipe was linked to a home explosion in Lake Dallas that left a woman severely injured.

The discovery raised a troubling question: Did the Texas Railroad Commission ever ensure utilities complied with its order to remove the plastic pipe, known as Poly-1?

For months, CBS News Texas has sought answers from the state's three elected Railroad Commissioners, who oversee pipeline safety in Texas. The commissioners declined multiple interview requests. When a reporter approached them after a recent public meeting in Austin, they left without answering questions.

Records reviewed by the CBS News Texas I-Team indicate that Poly-1 pipes were still being found in the system years after the state-imposed deadline.

The commission's only response came in an email from an agency spokesperson. Asked what actions the agency took to verify the pipe had been removed, the spokesperson wrote: "Because this is part of an ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment at this time."

A deadly explosion prompts Texas to act

Efforts to replace Poly-1 pipe accelerated after an explosion in Garland on Jan. 28, 2000.

The blast destroyed a home and killed 80-year-old Albert Holbert, his wife, Lillian Holbert, and her 83-year-old sister, Callie Hickerson.

Investigators traced the explosion to a Poly-1 pipe. By then, the early-generation plastic natural gas pipe, installed in the 1970s, had developed a history of cracking and leaking. In some cases, those failures led to explosions.

After the Garland disaster, the Railroad Commission ordered the utility TXU Gas to identify and remove all remaining Poly-1 pipe from its system.

When TXU missed an initial deadline, the commission assessed a penalty, imposed new deadlines and ordered the company to provide progress updates.

But nearly three years after those deadlines passed, officials reviewing the case for the Railroad Commission reported the work was "not yet completed."

TXU later sold the system to Atmos Energy in 2004.

Atmos said it believed all Poly-1 pipe had already been removed when it took over the system. Yet a 2009 commission record references ongoing "Poly 1 pipe replacement," indicating more of the material was still being found and replaced years later.

Decades later, a Poly-1 pipe remained underground

The dangers of Poly-1 pipe became all the more apparent in March of 2026, when a home exploded in Lake Dallas. Neighbors who rushed to the scene after hearing the blast found a severely burned woman trapped beneath the debris.

Investigators later determined leaking natural gas caused the explosion. The source of that leak was a Poly-1 gas pipe.

The discovery raised a critical question: How did a pipe that regulators had ordered removed decades earlier remain in service beneath a residential neighborhood?

Texas regulators face questions over pipeline oversight

No state agency can physically inspect every foot of buried gas pipe, but it remains unclear what steps the Railroad Commission took to verify that utilities completed the removal work it ordered.

Virginia Palacios, executive director of Commission Shift, a nonprofit watchdog group focused on the Railroad Commission, said the agency has long struggled with transparency and oversight.

"We just don't have a rigorous system at the Railroad Commission for keeping track of what operators are actually doing," Palacios said.

Palacios said she was not surprised the agency declined to answer questions.

"It's a very closed agency. It's not transparent," she said.

Railroad Commission changes how Texas can address the agency

The unanswered questions come as the Railroad Commission adopted a new public participation policy.

At the same meeting where commissioners declined to speak with CBS News Texas, they approved changes to how the public can address the agency.

Previously, members of the public could speak directly to commissioners during monthly meetings. Under the new policy, public comment opportunities will be replaced by listening sessions where residents can speak with agency staff. The new policy allows the public to participate remotely, but it does not require the three elected commissioners to attend those sessions.

Commissioner Wayne Christian, who proposed the change, said it would increase opportunities for public input. But not everyone sees it that way.

The chairman of the Texas House committee that oversees the Railroad Commission called on Christian to testify about the policy change. When Christian did not appear, Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, threatened to abolish the agency.