EPA Rules Aspire To Slash Oil Industry Methane Emissions

“We’ve got a failed experiment that is now being used as a model for the rest of the nation”, said Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance, a Denver-based petroleum industry advocacy group.

Although energy companies stopped short of endorsing the proposed rule, some have taken pains to emphasize their ongoing work to capture methane.

Methane emissions have been frequently blamed by researchers for pushing up the climate impact of fracking projects that are supposed to result in net reductions in emissions by replacing more carbon-intensive gas. The EPA updated and established additional VOC standards for several oil and natural gas-related operations through its 2012 NSPS, and targeted amendments in 2013 and 2014.

Building on a series of EPA white papers that looked at readily available methane controls, the proposed new source standards rely on proven, low cost and currently available measures for reducing or eliminating methane emissions from a range of sources.

“While some industry leaders are already implementing aspects of the proposed rules, the number of oil and gas companies that aggressively control their methane emissions must increase”, the philanthropy said.

Existing sources include oil-and-gas well sites and the nationwide system of gas pipelines.

Environmentalists say the plan doesn’t go far enough as it applies primarily to new wells, not most existing facilities.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas emission, and reducing it is one key to mitigating global warming.

“The EPA’s proposed methane rule is yet another example of the Obama administration’s war on American energy jobs”, Smith, who is chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said. We have prepared for the publication of the rule, and are ready to offer comments after we review the proposed rule in detail.

To meet the goal, the administration was expected to issue the first U.S. regulations cutting emissions from new natural gas wells, along with updated standards for drilling to reduce leakage from wells on public lands. And now comes a move against methane, which is an even more potent contributor to climate change.

Some people associated with the oil and gas industry find these new regulations to be unnecessary.

Also released Tuesday was a report underscoring the need to act on methane emissions, and soon.

In total, Obama has set a goal to cut overall U.S. emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent over the next decade, as he seeks to leave a legacy of using the full range of his executive power to fight climate change and encourage other countries to do the same.

Natural gas has the potential to be a low-emissions energy source, but only if methane leakage is controlled. Thankfully, this week’s announcement provides the legal and technical groundwork to extend the use of these available technologies to curb existing methane sources next.