The Trump Administration has rolled back a regulation requiring oil and gas companies to detect and fix methane gas leaks from pipelines, storage facilities, and wells. The director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited the economic benefits of relieving the burden of reducing air pollution on small-medium sized energy companies.
E.P.A. has been working hard to fulfill President Trump’s promise to cut burdensome and ineffective regulations for our domestic energy industry. Regulatory burdens put into place by the Obama-Biden administration fell heavily on small and medium-sized energy businesses.”
Andrew Wheeler, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency
This decision could have serious effects on climate. Methane makes up 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, but according to the EPA, methane is 28 to 36 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane gas emissions are at an all-time high globally, and fossil fuel leaks in the U.S. play a significant role in that.
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Over the past few years there has been an explosion of new research on this, and the literature has coalesced — 80 percent of papers show that methane from oil and gas leaks is two to three times higher than the E.P.A.’s estimates…”
Robert Howarth, an earth systems scientist at Cornell University
Historically speaking, the United States government has proven it is more than happy to put business and profits before protecting the environment while paying lip service to climate concerns. The current administration clearly follows in those footsteps.
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