In a Houston courtroom in 2014, an ExxonMobil employee testified that, after unauthorized emissions events, he routinely checked “yes” on forms to state regulators claiming the company should get a pass on penalties because it met 11 requirements, including that the release was unavoidable and nobody was exposed.

In fact, the employee admitted, he didn’t even check if the company met the requirements.

The testimony is part of the evidence that led a federal judge to order ExxonMobil to pay nearly $20 million for belching millions of pounds of excess pollution from its Houston-area facilities.

It’s a damning example of how Texas’ broken regulatory system relies too heavily on polluters to police themselves. Routinely accepting companies’ excuses for unauthorized pollution makes it easy for them to skirt state laws, avoid sanctions and endanger Texans’ health without us ever knowing.

Pretty much the only time Texas polluters are held seriously accountable is when the harm they’ve caused is so obvious, so egregious, it’s written in the sky — quite literally in the case of the recent ITC chemical fires. They spewed a black plume that sailed like a giant distress signal for days, alerting everybody in Houston to the danger.

Even state officials in Austin got the memo.

It has been refreshing to see Gov. Greg Abbott vowing on Twitter, “polluters will be punished,” and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suing the Intercontinental Terminals Company for allegedly violating the Texas Clean Air Act through unauthorized air pollution, outdoor burning and visible emissions.

The sudden vigilance is confounding as well. Why did they wait for a disaster to demand compliance from the company, whose repeated violations through the years earned only wrist slaps by state regulators? Why do they not routinely demand that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality strongly enforce Texas’ clean air laws, which can help prevent disasters waiting to happen?

This is a state where industrial facilities in 2017 reported releasing more than 63 million pounds of unauthorized air pollution — including chemicals linked to cancer, heart attacks and respiratory problems, according to a report by Environment Texas. Yet, in the past seven years, TCEQ issued fines in less than 3 percent of such events.

As the Chronicle’s Matt Dempsey reported, ITC violated the federal Clean Water Act nine of the last 12 quarters, according to Environmental Protection Agency data. Among state violations: The TCEQ fined ITC $18,300 in July 2017 for releasing cyanide — 10 times the permitted levels — into the San Jacinto River basin.

The grand total of civil penalties issued by federal, state and county regulators for ITC’s numerous violations of clean air, clean water and risk management rules for the past decade? Around $65,000.

The grand total of loss and harm after the disastrous ITC fires? We’re still counting. There were school closures, missed recess and after school activities across Houston, shelter-in-place orders that confined Deer Park residents.

The Houston Ship Channel was shut down and slowed for days, potentially costing the region’s oil and gas and petrochemical sectors $1 billion in lost revenues and added expenses, according to Maria Burns, director of the University of Houston’s logistics and transportation program.

Some argue those delays won’t hurt industry long term. But what about the black eye for the already-bruised image of the petrochemical industry, some of which actually follows the law? What about yet another blemish for Houston’s long-suffering image? The ultimate harm to public health and the environment may never be fully known.

Texans should be encouraged by the tough talk of our governor and attorney general, but we should demand that it actually lead somewhere.

“No company can be allowed to disrupt lives and put public health and safety at risk,” Paxton said in a statement.

He’s right. And his words should extend to all companies — not just those whose misdeeds make the front page.

We know that past disasters in Texas — including fatal ones — did not prompt systemic change.

“What was the response to West? Arkema? Magellan and Valero after Harvey?” said Elena Craft, Environmental Defense Fund’s senior director for climate and health. “Nothing really changed.”

Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, has praised Paxton’s prompt response. But will it lead to lasting change?

“I wish I could say yes, but not really,” he told the editorial board. “My fear is that the state’s going to try to make an example out of ITC with this suit. And they’ll leave it at that.”

Texans, we can’t let polluters return to business as usual. Lawmakers should ask tough questions at a joint House hearing April 5 on the ITC fire. They should pass bills strengthening regulations and close loopholes. .

And Texas officials demanding compliance from polluters now shouldn’t look the other way when the smoke clears.