Washington, D.C. — Today, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, will close the public comment period on its proposal to limit methane pollution from the oil and gas sector on the same day that stakeholders meet in Paris to discuss efforts to cut methane and other short-lived climate pollutants. The Center for American Progress released a column outlining the importance of the EPA’s methane work for meeting the country’s global climate commitments, as well as the public’s support for that work.
“The EPA has developed a common-sense plan to reduce methane leaks that are wasteful and harmful to the climate and human health,” said Alison Cassady, CAP Director of Domestic Energy Policy and author of the column. “The American public recognizes common sense when it sees it and has expressed strong support for cleaning up the oil and gas industry in polls, public hearings, and comments to the agency.”
The EPA proposal, which applies only to new sources of pollution in the oil and gas sector, is an important first step toward reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas sector, the largest industrial source of this potent greenhouse gas. As the CAP column explains, however, the EPA needs to take the next step to control methane pollution from equipment and wells already in operation in order to achieve significant and needed pollution reductions from this sector. Without enforceable standards for existing sources, it may be difficult for the Obama administration to meet its global greenhouse gas reduction goal and its separate goal of reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas sector by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2025.
Click here to read the column.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.