By Brent Addleman | The Center Square
A coalition of 21 states and one city’s attorneys general are backing an EPA supplemental proposal that would regulate methane emissions in the oil and gas exploration industry.
The EPA, according to a release, has estimated the proposal would reduce methane emissions by 36 million tons, volatile organic compounds by 9.7 million tons, and hazardous air pollutants by 390,000 tons over the next 12 years.
The attorneys general, led by California and New York, have commented in support of the federal organization’s proposal which is designed to create stronger regulations for methane emissions of new, modified, and reconstructed facilities in the industry. The proposal would also for the first time ever regulate emissions from existing infrastructure, which accounts for the majority of emissions.
The EPA, according to a release, has estimated the proposal would reduce methane emissions by 36 million tons, volatile organic compounds by 9.7 million tons, and hazardous air pollutants by 390,000 tons over the next 12 years.
Within the comments, the coalition of law enforcement officers backed the proposal, which, according to the release, is designed to update, strengthen, and expand the standards that were proposed in November 2021. In addition, the coalition said it has identified ways to further strengthen the initiative.
The proposal would work to require shorter repair periods for methane leaks if a well site is situated near an already overburdened community, according to the release. It would also add time restrictions for operators having idle wells and limit the total number of idle wells one owner can hold.
The EPA’s proposal, according to the release, would also prohibit routine flaring, with the only exception for safety and emergencies. It would also lower the threshold for defining super-emitter emission events and design a super-emitter response program that would maximize community participation.
California and New York are joined in the coalition by attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the city of Chicago.
According to the release, methane is 83 times more potent in the form of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Methane has been deemed as a super pollutant, and also traps more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
The single largest source of methane emissions are the production, processing, transmission and storage of oil and gas, according to the release. In addition, states have urged the EPA to regulate methane emissions over the last decade as part of combating climate change.
The EPA regulations is what drove manufacturing to India and China. Just what the commies in these states want more of. For those that think cows are the problem, stop eating meat and drinking milk. Every woke that dies from the lack of needed nutrients will make the world a better place.
Whatever happened to those “superfund” sites? There is huge one now in Ohio. The EPA is another three letter agency that needs to be eliminated sooner rather than later.
It’s a conservative white area Melissa, don’t expect much help from a hate whitey gov. It’s only a top news problem when bush didn’t get to New Orleans in a day. Also didn’t the biden admin refuse to help Fla in the last hurricane because not enough blacks were effected?
Oddly, most of these “accidents” (lost count of them) involve toxic materials on rail cars. Word has it that Governors Dewine (R-OH) and Shapiro (D-PA) had no authorization to set the derailed cars on fire and are now trying to flip it onto Norfolk Southern – the EPA is caught flat-footed and FEMA is chicken dancing around the whole matter. Where is Pothole Pete on all this? Blaming Trump. Then he get’s thrown under the bus by an EPA rep on Twitter. Biden is sending more money to the Urkaine and no mention at all about Ohio. As Regan aptly said – “The top 9 most terrifying words in the English Language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
But the biden administration blowing up the NordStream pipeline is
A-Ok…100,000 metric tons into the atmosphere caused by our government and these fools want to limit small amounts from drilling holes. What we need to limit is idiots having anything to do with regulations and government…
They are going to need gas igniter units on the cows, because methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
I wonder how much CO2 went into the air from that train wreck the other day. At least the oil that contaminates the ground and waterways won’t become gasoline. We should thank those people in Illinois for having that happen in their community. Think of all the oil that won’t become CO2! They are doing their part in saving the earth.
Too bad about all the cyanide gas emitted from burning vinyl chloride. Well they don’t make phonograph records anymore, so who needs vinyl?
Anyway it happened in flyover country, majority deplorables country, and those guys won’t be driving their monster trucks and tractors, causing globular warming. /sarcasm
By the way, did they scrap that axle in the 20 minute cleanup? The video looked like fire under the car, not at the bearing. Thermite anybody?
Don’t fret Gordon, billybob gates is formulating a new cattle feed that supposed to eliminate cow flatulence. Just beware it might contain mrna’s to get all those that didn’t get the mandatory gov vax…