On November 2, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced a proposed new Clean Air Act rule to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry, including, for the first time, reductions from existing sources.[1] The proposed rule is in response to Biden’s January 20, 2021, executive order, which, among other things, directed the EPA to propose new regulations to reduce methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from existing operations in the oil and gas sector. One-third of the warming from greenhouse gases comes from methane, which traps about 30 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over 100 years. In the U.S., the oil and natural gas industry is the largest industrial source of methane emissions. Oil and gas operations also emit VOCs and other air pollutants.

According to the EPA, the proposed rule would reduce 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035, the equivalent of 920 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. In 2030 alone, the rule would reduce methane emissions by 74% compared to 2005. It would accomplish this through updated and broadened emission reduction requirements for new, modified, and reconstructed oil and gas sources for the first time under the Clean Air Act; and requirements that states develop plans to limit methane emissions from existing sources nationwide, along with presumptive standards for existing sources to assist in the planning process.

[1] https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/us-sharply-cut-methane-pollution-threatens-climate-and-public-health