The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Tuesday to loosen federal methane rules for oil and natural gas operations, including ending its Super Emitter Program and changing standards for low-producing wells. President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the plan in Lubbock, Texas.
The proposal is not a final rule. EPA said it will hold at least a 45-day public comment period, including a public hearing, after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.
In its announcement Tuesday, EPA estimated the changes would save consumers and businesses $45 billion and support an additional 210 million barrels of oil and 1.41 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Those figures are agency projections, not savings or production already delivered.
The plan targets Clean Air Act standards for new and existing oil and gas sources. EPA is offering two ways to separate well sites into different regulatory categories: by production level, distinguishing marginal from non-marginal wells, or by resource type, distinguishing conventional from unconventional wells.
EPA also proposes to rescind the Super Emitter Program, which certified third-party monitors for major leak events. The agency cited legal concerns and questioned whether the program was needed, saying other practices give operators useful information to find and fix significant emissions.
For natural gas produced alongside oil, the proposal would restore flaring or other control devices with 95% efficiency as the best system of emission reduction. EPA said requiring all such gas to reach a sales pipeline is not practical in every producing area. Other changes would separate design and operating requirements for covers and closed vent systems and provide more flexibility for control-device monitoring.
The administration says the changes would reduce compliance costs and help keep wells operating. Environmental groups dispute the trade-off. The Center for Biological Diversity said Tuesday the proposal would weaken leak detection, repair and equipment requirements and increase pollution risks.
EPA describes methane as both the main component of natural gas and a greenhouse gas. That makes leaked gas a loss of usable energy as well as a source of warming. The proposal opens a new rulemaking process; Tuesday’s announcement does not by itself complete that process.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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