US proposes to cut methane from oil, gas by nearly half

The regulations are expected to push the United States closer to reaching a 45 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2025 from 2012 levels.

The regulations will create modest extra costs for oil and gas producers, which are already facing the financial strain of a low oil price, but cheap crude is itself deterring the kind of new drilling that would be subject to the rules.

The EPA found that by causing or contributing to climate change, GHGs (greenhouse gases) endanger both the public health and the public welfare of current and future generations.

“These new methane standards are just a piece of the puzzle”, says Sandra Snyder, an attorney with the Washington, D.C. office of Bracewell & Giuliani and a former oil and gas engineer.

The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed the first federal limits on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Cutting pollution from the massive web of existing oil and gas development is the essential next step that urgently demands EPA’s attention. Other industry leaders told the publication that the new regulations would be cost effective to their business because cutting emissions of methane would allow them to sell more.

Methane emissions are a major challenge for the energy industry, extending all the way from oil wells to the pipes that distribute gas to customers.

“It’s high time that the majority of oil and gas companies plug their leaks and stop this needless pollution”, said Conrad Schneider, advocacy director for Clean Air Task Force.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas – about 25 times more harmful to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide – and is a key component of drilled natural gas that escapes into the air around fracked wells through leaks and flares.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued two proposed rules lowering the threshold at which landfills must control methane gas emissions. Oil and gas companies sometimes inadvertently emit methane during the production and transmission process.

EPA estimates the climate benefits of the combined proposals at almost $750 million in 2025, or almost $14 for every dollar spent to comply.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama unveiled the final version of his plan to tackle greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants, requiring carbon emissions from the sector be cut 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday’s proposed rules are “duplicative, costly, and undermine America’s competitiveness”, noting that the industry is already taking action on methane.