Methane fee clears US House committee
Some warn it will raise cost of heating homes
A U.S. House committee has approved a new fee on methane emissions, despite warnings from the energy industry and Republican lawmakers that the move would raise costs for heating homes and a variety of other activities.
Democrats argued that the fee would reduce emissions of a potent greenhouse gas at a time when weather disasters are claiming American lives and costing billions of dollars in damage.
The methane fee is part of a massive budget package refined by House
The methane fee would be levied on “pollution from the oil and gas industry above specific intensity thresholds,” according to the committee.
committees this week. The Democratic-controlled House is expected to consider the $3.5 trillion package in the next few weeks.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee spent three days working on various aspects of the overall package, including sections on climate change and health care. The panel completed its work Wednesday.
The climate change portion includes a $150 billion Clean Electricity Performance Program to push utility companies toward usage of renewables.
Proposed fee designed to clean up methane leaks
The methane fee would be levied on “pollution from the oil and gas industry above specific intensity thresholds,” according to the committee, and “recognizes the cleanest performers, holds individual companies responsible for their own leaks and excess methane pollution, drives innovation in the sector, and supports the creation of goodpaying jobs.”
Rep. Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat on the committee, said methane “is a major contributor to the climate crisis because methane escapes at every point of oil and gas production. It escapes when it’s extracted, it escapes when it’s transported, it escapes when it’s refined, and these leaks undermine any climate benefit that fracked natural gas has when compared to coal.”
She said the fee would “incentivize companies to find and fix leaks and stop intentional emissions like venting and flaring. It is a very important tool to solve the climate crisis, improve air quality and protect the health of communities across the country.”
Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, of Washington, tried unsuccessfully to strip the fee from the bill.
“Unfortunately, much of this proposal is an assault on reliable and affordable energy to appease radical environmentalists on the far left,” Rodgers said.
“The natural gas tax will impact our entire economy by making it more expensive to heat homes, cook, eat (and) manufacture thousands of products from PPE to medicines to solar panels.
This new natural gas tax is a punitive tax designed to artificially raise the price of natural gas to discourage jobcreating investments in fossil fuels and force a radical transformation of American life.”
Energy groups say methane fee would boost consumers’ costs
A coalition of energy and business groups, led by the American Petroleum Institute, said in a letter to legislators that reducing methane emissions is a priority of oil and gas producers and that current regulations were enough to achieve the goal.
“As a result of technology and efficiency measures, emissions relative to production in five of the seven largest producing basins were down nearly 70% between 2011 and 2019 and are expected to continue to trend downward,” the coalition stated.
The American Gas Association said the methane tax would increase costs on natural gas bills by approximately 18-34% or $128 to $242 per year for the average American family.
Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., said the fee is “the best solution to the problem of methane emissions. It targets methane emissions, not its production. It would cause them to be captured and used and should lower the cost of methane to consumers … It’s a false claim that this bill will be eliminating all natural gas production.
“This bill targets leakage. So don’t tell me that the pollution fee raises costs. The technology already exists to detect and repair leaks from energy infrastructure, which not only cuts pollution but also reduces waste.”
After failing to eliminate the methane fee, Republicans on the committee sought to amend the proposal to ensure cattle operations were not subject to the requirements. Democrats said the proposal did not apply to agriculture and defeated the amendment.