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The Trump administration laid out on Thursday a far-reaching plan 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
E.P.A. 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 climate-change and environmental rules. Several of the world’s largest auto companies are pushing back against Mr. Trump’s plans to let vehicles pollute more, and utilities have opposed the relaxation of restrictions on toxic mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants.
E.P.A. officials said the new rule is a response to President 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 E.P.A. administrator Andrew
Wheeler. “The Trump administration recognizes that methane is valuable
and the industry has an incentive to minimize leaks and maximize its
use.”
Mr. Wheeler noted that since
1990, natural gas production in the United States has almost doubled
while methane emissions across the industry has 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 E.P.A. 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 E.P.A.
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.
Over
all, carbon dioxide is the most significant greenhouse gas, but methane
is a close second. It lingers in the atmosphere for a shorter period of
time but packs a bigger punch while it lasts. By some estimates,
methane has 80 times the heating-trapping power of carbon dioxide in the
first 20 years in the atmosphere.
Methane
currently makes up nearly 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the
United States. A significant portion of that comes from the oil and gas
industry. Other sources include cattle and agriculture.
The
E.P.A.’s economic analysis of the rule estimates that it would save the
oil and natural gas industry $17 to $19 million a year.
The
methane regulation has been in the administration’s cross hairs since
Mr. Trump’s earliest days in office. In March 2017, Scott Pruitt, then
the E.P.A. administrator, tried to suspend the regulation while the
agency considered an alternative, but a federal appeals court ruled the move unlawful.
Erik Milito, a vice president at the American Petroleum Institute, a
trade group representing the oil and gas industry, praised the new rule,
saying, “We think it’s a smarter way of targeting methane emissions.”
Smaller oil and gas companies have
complained to the Trump administration about the Obama rule, saying it
is too costly for them to perform leak inspections. But major oil and gas companies have called on the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on methane.
The
larger companies have invested millions of dollars to promote natural
gas — which produces about half as much carbon dioxide as coal — as a
cleaner option than coal in the nation’s power plants. They fear that
unrestricted leaks of methane could undermine that marketing message,
hurting demand.
Susan Dio, the chairwoman and president of BP America, wrote an op-ed article in March saying that regulating methane is the “right thing to do for the planet” and for the natural gas industry.
“To maximize the climate benefits of gas — and meet the dual challenge
of producing more energy with fewer emissions — we need to address its
Achilles’ heel and eliminate methane emissions,” she wrote.
Ben Ratner,
a senior director with the Environmental Defense Fund, a group that
works closely with oil companies to track and reduce methane emissions,
said that as renewable energy becomes more affordable, it could undercut the industry message
that natural gas is a cleaner energy source. “The reputation of
American natural gas is at the precipice, and methane rollbacks are the
shove,” Mr. Ratner said.
Ms. Isdal,
the E.P.A.’s acting clean-air chief, said companies that opposed the
Trump rollback would be free to keep abiding by the Obama-era rules if
they wished. “We don’t preclude anybody from going above and beyond if
that’s what they think they need to do from a business or compliance
standpoint,” she said.
For more news on climate and the environment, follow @NYTClimate on Twitter.
Lisa
Friedman reports on climate and environmental policy in Washington. A
former editor at Climatewire, she has covered nine international climate
talks. @LFFriedman
Coral
Davenport covers energy and environmental policy, with a focus on
climate change, from the Washington bureau. She joined The Times in 2013
and previously worked at Congressional Quarterly, Politico and National
Journal. @CoralMDavenport • Facebook
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