Methane Matters: EPA Proposes Fee to Clean Up Oil & Gas Emissions
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making a big move to reduce harmful methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Its new proposed rule, built on the momentum of the Biden-Harris administration's Inflation Reduction Act, aims to encourage better practices and ultimately cleaner air. This exciting step could incentivize companies to adopt industry best practices that cut pollution, benefiting both the environment and public health.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set out to curb methane emissions from the oil and gas industry with a new proposed rule in line with the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which turbocharged clean energy deployment, taking steps to incentivize adoption of industry best practices that reduce pollution.
According to the EPA, the proposed rule will entail a charge on certain large emitters of methane from the oil and gas industry that exceed emissions intensity levels set by Congress.
The third step is encapsulated in the new methane rule proposal through which the EPA is seeking to encourage facilities with high methane emissions to meet or exceed the levels of performance set by Congress and already reached by leading oil and gas companies.
The EPA’s proposed rule on methane has not been endorsed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which called on Congress to repeal the IRA’s methane fee.