November 12, 2024
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Methane leaks are everywhere. The Trump Administration could repeal sanctions to reduce them
A fee created to encourage oil and gas companies to cap methane leaks could be repealed by the incoming Trump administration, hampering efforts to curb the powerful greenhouse gas.
A natural gas flare burns near an oil pump at the New Harmony Oil Field in Grayville, Illinois, U.S., Sunday, June 19, 2022.
Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
KLIMAWIRE | The EPA on Tuesday finalized regulations for a fee that oil and gas companies could begin paying for excess methane emissions next year if Republicans don’t repeal it first.
The rule guides the implementation of a fee created by the 2022 climate law and is the last major climate standard of the Biden administration. It was presented at a side event of the United Nations climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, ahead of the US-China methane summit.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who did not participate in the global meeting, said in a statement that the rule “is the latest in a series of actions under the president’s methane strategy to improve efficiency in the oil and gas sector, support American jobs, protect clean air, and strengthen US leadership at the global level.” .
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The EPA estimated that the fees would keep 1.2 million metric tons of methane out of the atmosphere by 2035 and provide “up to $2 billion” in climate benefits.
Companies will start paying the levy next year for excess emissions released in 2024. Oil and gas operators will pay $900 per metric ton of methane above the threshold set by the Inflation Reduction Act. The fee, called the waste emissions charge, will rise to $1,500 a tonne by 2026 and beyond. The tag reinforces the EPA’s Clean Air Act rules for methane, ensuring that if operators fail to meet or fail to meet those standards, they would pay a fee.
But President-elect Donald Trump’s victory last week raises questions about the future of President Joe Biden’s methane policies, particularly the methane quota. Trump could direct former Rep. Lee Zeldin, the New York Republican whom Trump announced Monday as his future EPA administrator, to scale back or scrap elements of those policies. Zeldin has Senate confirmation.
The Biden EPA has implemented significant methane regulations at the last three UN climate summits. The administration has also built climate diplomacy around the need to reduce methane, a super-pollutant 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in raising temperatures over a 20-year horizon.
The US joined the European Union in 2021 to launch the Global Methane Pledge, which saw more than 150 countries pledge to work together to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030. the two biggest polluters are teaming up to reduce the powerful gas.
But under Trump, the EPA could quickly begin the process of amending and replacing the Biden-era methane rules with lax standards, including those that encourage the imposition of a methane tax. Because the rule is being finalized so late in Biden’s term, Republican lawmakers could overturn it through a resolution of the Congressional Review Act.
But experts say those moves would not require Trump’s EPA to acquit the quota.
“The law is still the law,” said one industry advocate who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss future policies.
A CRA resolution would allow the Trump administration to create a methane-friendly quota for the industry. For example, it could make it easier for oil and gas operators to claim fee waivers offered under the Inflation Suppression Act. Trump could also allow operators to delay paying the fee until their annual greenhouse gas reports are due at the end of the year. The Trump EPA could also allow corporations to clean up emissions at all assets, removing restrictions that allow cleaner facilities to offset dirtier facilities to ease fees.
If Trump and congressional Republicans want to kill the methane quota, they should introduce legislation to repeal it. Democrats and Biden moved the IRA during the annual budget process, and the GOP could use the same maneuver to dismantle parts of it. Trade groups such as the American Petroleum Institute and the Independent Petroleum Association of America oppose the quota.
Rosalie Winn, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, said legislation to eliminate the fee “would be against the interests of the American people.”
“We know that reducing methane pollution is the single most important and least-cost way to reduce the warming we’re experiencing today and to protect communities across America that are already facing extreme weather events and rapidly rising insurance costs,” he said. he said, the methane fee earns revenue and repealing it would add to the federal deficit.
While the quota is unpopular in the industry, not all of Biden’s other methane policies are.
The EPA is on track to release hundreds of millions of dollars from the IRA in the coming weeks to help operators reduce emissions. Many oil and gas industry advocates fear that gutting EPA rules to prevent and control leaks could leave U.S. companies vulnerable to international and state methane policies. They also note that many operators have their own climate commitments that roughly match the EPA’s methane rule.
This story also appears Energywire.
Reprinted E&E News Courtesy of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
