EPA to ease regulations on potent greenhouse gas
Major energy companies, who would most benefit, have spoken against plan
The Trump administration laid out a far-reaching plan Thursday to cut back on the regulation of methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change.
The Environmental Protection Agency, in its proposed rule, aims to eliminate federal requirements that oil and gas companies install technology to detect and fix methane leaks from wells, pipelines and storage facilities. It will also reopen the question of whether the EPA even has the legal authority to regulate methane as a pollutant.
The rollback is particularly notable because major energy companies have, in fact, spoken out against it — joining the ranks of automakers, electric utilities and other industrial giants that have opposed other administration initiatives to dismantle climatechange and environmental rules. Several of the world’s largest auto companies are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s plans to let vehicles pollute more, saying those rollbacks stand to split the U.S. auto market in two, and utilities have opposed the relaxation of restrictions on toxic mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants.
EPA officials said the new rule, which would replace one dating from the Obama administration, is a response to Trump’s calls to trim or eliminate regulations that impede economic growth or keep the nation reliant on energy imports.
The plan “delivers on President Trump’s executive order and removes unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens from the oil and gas industry,” said the EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler. “The Trump administration recognizes that methane is valuable and the industry has an incentive to
minimize leaks and maximize its use.”
Wheeler noted that since 1990, natural gas production in the United States has almost doubled while methane emissions across the industry have fallen 15 percent.
Anne Isdal, the agency’s acting senior clean-air official, said the rules being eliminated have “minimal environmental benefits.”
Environmental advocates described the proposal as a major setback in the effort to fight climate change. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.
“The Trump EPA is eager to give the oil and gas industry a free pass to keep leaking enormous amounts of climate pollution into the air,” said David Doniger, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. “If EPA moves forward with this reckless and sinister proposal, we will see them in court.”
Under the proposal, methane, the main component of natural gas, would be only indirectly regulated. A separate but related category of gases, known as volatile organic compounds, would remain regulated under the new rule, and those curbs would have the side benefit of averting some methane emissions.
The new rule must go through a period of public comment and review and would most likely be finalized early next year, analysts said.