Dozens plead with EPA to keep air rules
DENVER — Dozens of people who live near oil and gas wells pleaded with the Trump administration Wednesday not to roll back rules for methane pollution, while industry representatives said the changes should go further.
The Environmental Protection Agency held a hearing in Denver on the administration’s plans to loosen regulations imposed by the Obama administration in 2016. The rules require energy companies to step up the detection and elimination of methane leaks at well sites and other oil and gas facilities. Methane is the primary component of natural gas and also is a greenhouse gas.
Opponents argued Wednesday that changing the rules would threaten people’s health, worsen climate change and squander natural gas by allowing leaks to go undetected. They also argued it would cost taxpayers, investors and mineral owners money from the lost sale of the gas. Many accused the EPA of abetting polluters, looking out for the wealthy and failing its legal duty to protect public health and the environment.
Matthew Todd of the American Petroleum Institute said the industry is already reducing methane emissions even while natural gas production is increasing. He said the EPA should do more to allow technological innovation and streamline the rules.
When it unveiled the looser rules in September, the EPA said they would save energy companies up to $75 million a year. But the agency conceded that the rules “may also degrade air quality and adversely affect health.”
It said the new rules would allow an additional 380,000 tons of methane and 100,000 tons of volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere from 2019 to 2025. Volatile organic compounds are an ingredient of ozone and smog.