Trump is pushing weakening rules regarding trying to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
The New York Times in Sept noted that:
“The Trump administration, taking its third major step this year to roll back federal efforts to fight climate change, is preparing to make it significantly easier for energy companies to release methane into the atmosphere.
Methane, which is among the most powerful greenhouse gases, routinely leaks from oil and gas wells, and energy companies have long said that the rules requiring them to test for emissions were costly and burdensome.”
A recent article in Reuters noted that:
“Methane, the primary component of natural gas, leaks from oil and gas wells during drilling. It accounts for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and has more than 80 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it escapes into the atmosphere.
The oil and gas sector is the largest single source of U.S. methane emissions, according to EPA data.”
The Washington Post pointed out that :
“A new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, written by Solomon and colleagues Kirsten Zickfeld of Simon Fraser University and Daniel Gilford of MIT, underscores the fact that even greenhouse gases that don’t last long in the atmosphere — methane, for instance — can have centuries-long impacts on the expanding oceans. So although the atmospheric warming they cause may taper off comparatively quickly after their emissions are halted, their effects in the oceans are much longer-lived.”
Members of the public have until Dec 15, 2018 to respond opposing the weakening of the rules on methane.
Urge that they do not weaken rules to reduce methane emissions but look at ways to further reduce emissions. Short term “profits” while producing long term climate change impacts is a bad deal.
Go to the website to submit comments on The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Proposed Rule: Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources Reconsideration
Click on Comment Now.
