Agency Aims to Reduce Methane Emissions from New Oil and Gas Facilities by 40 to 45 percent by 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Environmental Integrity Project issued the following statement about new EPA regulations, released today, for controlling methane emissions from new and modified oil and gas facilities:
Eric Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said: “EPA’s methane rule for new and modified oil and gas wells and facilities is an important step toward curbing the industry’s massive greenhouse gas footprint. The rule sets us on the course to address climate change and will help communities dealing with the industry’s toxic emissions. But we can’t stop here. This rule for future facilities doesn’t address the far greater emissions from the thousands of existing oil and gas wells, pipelines, and plants. It is critically important that we also control the methane from this larger source of pollution.”
EPA’s new rule is designed to reduce the oil and gas industry’s methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent — or 510,000 tons — by 2025. Among other steps, the industry must now capture gas emitted during hydraulic fracturing at oil wells and conduct quarterly inspections for “fugitive” gas leaks—a major source of emissions—at well sites and compressor stations.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with 86 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide in the short term. The rule also has the co-benefit of reducing hundreds of thousands tons of volatile organic compounds, including carcinogens such as benzene.
To read EPA’s rule click here.
Media contact: Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project, 202-888-2703 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org
