The Trump administration’s rollback of rules on methane emissions produced more support from those in congress, including Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin.
He is a co-chair of the House Energy Action Team and joined South Carolina Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan in applauding the administration’s decision. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana also supported them in saying the updated regulations will provide what they believe to be “much-need relief to American energy producers.”
“The Obama-Era methane regulations would cost the American economy millions of dollars each year in regulatory costs, in addition to killing hundreds of American jobs,” said Rep. Mullin. “Methane emissions from oil and natural gas have significantly declined in recent decades without multiple, overlapping federal regulations, and this is no exception. These final rules will cut the red tape for producers while protecting our air and environment from pollution. Thank you, President Trump, for taking this action to support the American energy industry.”
Rep. Scalise agreed, pointing out energy producers in his state as well are fighting to survive.
“Today’s action by the Trump Administration repeals overly burdensome, job-killing regulations and provides much-needed relief to struggling American energy producers and the jobs they support. The United States already has some of the strongest environmental standards in the world, proven by the fact that methane emissions have continued to decrease even as we have become the world leader in oil and gas production,” said Scalise who called the Obama era regulations were “onerous.”
Rep. Duncan said the 2016 Obama-era rule was overburdensome, costly and ineffective.
“The U.S. was showing an improvement in methane emissions prior to the implementation of the 2016 rule, even while natural gas production in the U.S. increased. This is largely due to the ingenuity and technological advances in the oil and gas sector, not job-destroying government regulations. I thank President Trump for his actions to support American jobs and the American Energy Renaissance.”
On August 13, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two actions on New Source Performance Standards for the Oil and Gas Industry. The regulations remove the transmission and storage segments from the sources that fall under the regulations and rescind methane requirements for the production and processing segments of the industry. The regulations also reduce how often certain facilities must be monitored for fugitive emissions; exempts low-producing wells from fugitive emissions monitoring requirements; and allows for greater flexibility in how monitoring occurs and who does the monitoring, among other things.
Source: Rep. Mullin press release