U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) said, “Energy production and clean air through reduced greenhouse gas emissions are not competing ideals, and efforts to reduce emissions don’t have to hurt our energy industry”, reports the Bakken Magazine. The proposed rule is even more important in the wake of the recently finalized Clean Power Plan, since the Plan will lead to greater reliance on natural gas.
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“The reduction of methane emissions that EPA put out today is just another assault on fossil fuel production”. A state analysis evaluated that the new rules has cost drillers around 0.4 pc of their annual incomes. With weak natural gas prices on one side and this new proposal that is likely to raise costs on the other, more trouble is brewing for companies dealing in the commodity. On August 18th, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the first-ever federal regulations to limit those emissions from oil and gas production.
However, Brownstein adds that the EPA proposal would only apply to new or modified gathering facilities. For example, EPA believes compliance with stricter state air rules might demonstrate alternate compliance for NSPS purposes.
In order to meet the White House’s goal of cutting methane pollution from the oil and gas industry 40% to 45% by 2025, more comprehensive rules for existing oil and gas infrastructure nationwide will be necessary. Taken together, EPA projects these actions will reduce methane by 560 to 620 thousand short tons which, for context, represents about 7 to 8 percent of the total emissions from the oil and gas supply chain in the 2012 Inventory.
But methane, the principal constituent of natural gas, itself is among the most potent of greenhouse gases.
Republican lawmakers and energy groups were swift in their condemnation of the new proposals, with many arguing methane emissions have been falling in recent years.
The move came in the same week as a group of leading oil and gas companies told the UN they would beef up efforts to cut methane leaks from their operations.
In total, Obama has set a goal to cut overall U.S. emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent over the next decade, as he seeks to leave a legacy of using the full range of his executive power to fight climate change and encourage other countries to do the same.
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The proposed standards include a pathway for addressing existing sources in non-attainment areas, through control technique guidelines (CTGs) to get at volatile organic compounds, an ozone precursor. Thankfully, this week’s announcement provides the legal and technical groundwork to extend the use of these available technologies to curb existing methane sources next.
