Trump’s
Methane Rule Rollback Divides Oil And Gas Industry. According
to the New York Times, “Oil and gas producers might have been expected to welcome a decision to loosen regulations affecting their business. But their reaction to the Trump administration’s move to roll back methane-emissions rules revealed at least tactical
divisions on climate policy. Contradictory voices quickly emerged Thursday between those who supported the move as a boon to domestic energy production and others who viewed it as a counterproductive measure that would sully the reputation of natural gas as
a clean fuel. Global oil and gas companies generally distanced themselves from the administration decision, while smaller domestic companies that are struggling to make a profit at a time of low oil and gas prices said they supported the rollback. The divide
reflected differing visions of the industry’s future in light of growing concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change. Natural gas often escapes unburned during production and distribution, and its essential component — methane — is more
than 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the earth’s atmosphere in the 20 years it takes to dissipate. The administration’s move would loosen regulations affecting methane emissions from pipelines, storage tanks and wells.” [New York Times,
8/29/19
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Op-Ed: Trump’s Enthusiasm For Pollution Is Too
Much For Even The Oil Industry. According
to an op-ed by Paul Waldman in the Washington Post, “July was the hottest month recorded on Earth since record-keeping began, an occurrence the Trump administration has responded to by deciding that the world needs more greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, it
is so determined to accelerate global warming that even the oil companies — yes, the oil companies — are saying, ‘Whoa there, let’s just dial it back on the pollution, okay?’ According to The Post: The Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce Thursday
that it will loosen federal rules on methane, a powerful greenhouse gas linked to climate change, according to two senior administration officials. The proposed rule will reverse standards enacted under former president Barack Obama that require oil and gas
operations to install controls on their operations to curb the release of methane at the well head and in their transmission equipment, including pipelines, processing and storage facilities. … But several of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies, including
Exxon, Shell and BP, have opposed the rollback and urged the Trump administration to keep the current standards in place. Collectively, these firms account for 11 percent of America’s natural gas output. Before we praise the oil companies, let’s understand
what’s actually happening here. In most ways, they couldn’t be happier with the Trump administration — except when the administration gets so overenthusiastic that it undermines the greenwashing the industry has been putting so much effort into.” [Washington
Post, 8/29/19
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Analysis: The Trump Administration Has A Multi-Pronged
Strategy To Make The Planet Uninhabitable. According
to Jack Holmes in Esquire, “If you ever wondered what it would look like for someone to go Jim Jones on the human race, look no further than the United States of America in the Year of Our Lord 2019. People who study this kind of thing believe we have to cut
our heat-trapping emissions in half by 2030 to stand a chance of staving off the worst effects of the climate crisis, and avoid the feedback loops that will send the issue beyond our control. Believe it or not, however, the administration of Donald Trump,
American president, is not proving particularly helpful in this regard. While the Fox News Grandpa has periodic spasms of insanity on Twitter and the White House lawn, the termites of the state his regime has ushered into power are hard at work dismantling
regulations aimed at curbing our climate emissions. The latest example arrived Thursday courtesy of the New York Times. The Trump administration laid out on Thursday a far-reaching plan to cut back on the regulation of methane emissions, a major contributor
to climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency, in its proposed rule, aims to eliminate federal requirements that oil and gas companies install technology to detect and fix methane leaks from wells, pipelines and storage facilities. It will also reopen
the question of whether the E.P.A. even has the legal authority to regulate methane as a pollutant. When we talk about heat-trapping gasses, we mostly think of carbon dioxide. It’s the most common in the atmosphere. But methane is a serious problem, not least
because it traps up to 84 percent more heat than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years it’s up there.” [Esquire,
8/29/19
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Trump Administration Rolls Back Greenhouse Gas
Regulations So Far Even Oil Companies Object. According
to Newsweek, “Just two days after President Donald Trump called himself an ‘environmentalist,’ his administration announced a rollback of methane gas emissions regulations so large that even oil companies are objecting to the change. In the proposed rule change,
released by the Environmental Protection Agency Thursday morning, the agency would end a federal regulation that requires gas and oil companies to use technology to inspect for and repair methane leaks in their infrastructure. This would leave large segments
of the oil and gas industry entirely uncontrolled with no pollution limits. Methane emissions are known to cause climate change. The administration estimates that the rollbacks will save the oil and gas industry $17 to 19 million a year. But oil and gas bigwigs
don’t support the change. Susan Dio, the chairwoman and president of BP America, wrote an opinion piece for the Houston Chronicle in March where she claimed it was essential that the EPA regulate methane gasses. ‘It’s the right thing to do for the planet,’
she wrote. ‘The best way to help further reduce and ultimately eliminate methane emissions industry wide is through direct federal regulation of new and existing sources.’ ExxonMobil wrote a letter to the EPA last year, asking them to keep methane regulations
intact, and Gretchen Watkins, the U.S. chairwoman for Shell, said in March that the EPA should keep rules in place to regulate methane production.” [Newsweek,
8/29/19
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EPA Proposes Rollback Of Methane Regulations.
According to the Houston Chronicle, “The
Trump administration will roll back Obama-era regulations limiting emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from oil and gas wells, even as many within the industry have set reducing those emissions as a goal in fighting climate change. Under a proposed
rule change announced by the Environmental Protection Agency Thursday, oil and gas companies would no longer be required to inspect for methane leaks from existing wells, storage tanks, pipelines and other infrastructure. EPA Administrator Andrew said the
action, ‘removes unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens from the oil and gas industry.’ ‘The Trump Administration recognizes that methane is valuable, and the industry has an incentive to minimize leaks and maximize its use,’ he added. U.S. methane
emissions have been steadily falling since the 1990s, as oil and gas companies work to minimize losses of natural gas during both oil and gas production through equipment leaks or improperly drilled wells. But considering methane’s outsized role in global
warming — it’s 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — the Obama administration reasoned the industry needed to move faster.” [Houston Chronicle,
8/29/19
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EPA Aims To Roll Back Limits On Methane Emissions
From Oil And Gas Industry. According
to NPR, “The Trump administration is proposing to slash restrictions on the oil and gas industry for methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that is a powerful driver of climate change. Environmental groups are alarmed. ‘This would be a huge step backward,’ said
Ben Ratner, a senior director at the Environmental Defense Fund. ‘It would cause greatly increased pollution and a big missed opportunity to take cost effective immediate action to reduce the rate of warming right now.’ The Trump administration argues it would
save the oil and gas industry $17 million to $19 million annually in compliance costs. But that’s ‘such a small fraction of the industry total cash flow that it’s just laughable,’ says Harvard University’s Steven Wofsy, a professor of atmospheric and environmental
science. The Trump administration also says it does not anticipate an increase in the level of methane emissions if the proposal is implemented — but scientists disagree with that assumption. Methane powerfully traps heat, and can warm the atmosphere at 25
times the rate of carbon dioxide. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the oil and gas industry is the largest source of methane emissions in the U.S.
In March 2017, Trump ordered agencies to ‘review existing regulations that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources.’ This proposal came out of that review.” [NPR,
8/29/19
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Op-Ed: EPA Moves To Loosen Methane Rules As Trump
Opens Alaskan Rainforest. According to
an op-ed by William Rivers Pitt in Truthout, “Stop signs — perhaps the most ubiquitous form of taxpayer-funded socialism found in the U.S. today — exist for a reason. People who barge through them are putting others in active danger, and anyone doing it deliberately
would be considered a fool and a menace by pretty much everyone else. The Amazon rainforest is on fire. The Arctic is on fire. Swaths of Indonesia and central Africa are on fire. The Greenland ice sheet melted virtually overnight and caused the ocean to visibly
and measurably rise. Iceland is holding funerals for melting glaciers. These are stop signs, huge ones that can be seen from space. Climate disruption is not lurking in some faraway land of maybe; it was here yesterday and the day before, and last week, and
last year. It is here today, and will be here tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives. It will never get better, and is going to get worse, but if we heed the stop signs, we have the chance to, perhaps, keep it from driving us into extinction. Clearly, the
president of the United States doesn’t see it that way. ‘I’m an environmentalist,’ said Donald Trump after blowing off a G7 meeting on the climate crisis. ‘A lot of people don’t understand that. I think I know more about the environment than most people.’
In his mind, nuking hurricanes and buying Greenland to plunder its newly ice-free resources is what environmentalists do. Now, Trump the ‘environmentalist’ has also reportedly ordered Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to open Alaska’s 16.7 million-acre Tongass
National Forest — the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world — to logging, energy and mining projects.” [Truthout,
8/29/19
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Climate Hawk House Republicans Oppose Trump Rollback
Of Obama Methane Rule. According to the
Washington Examiner, “Leading House Republicans who back federal policies to curb climate change say they oppose the Trump administration’s move Thursday to eliminate direct federal regulation of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. ‘I have serious concerns about
this decision by the EPA,’ Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida told the Washington Examiner. Rooney is the chairman of the bipartisan House Climate Solutions Caucus and the leading Republican proponent in Congress of a carbon tax. The Environmental Protection Agency
proposed a rule to reverse regulations imposed by the Obama administration in 2016 requiring oil and gas companies to install technologies to inspect and repair wells, pipelines, and storage facilities that leak methane. Methane, the main component of natural
gas, is more potent than carbon dioxide, although its emissions don’t last as long in the atmosphere. Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, the top Republican on the House Select Climate Crisis Committee, also said he opposes EPA’s proposed action to stop direct
federal regulation of methane. In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Graves was asked if he supports the EPA’s decision. ‘I don’t think I do. No. Based upon the reports, I do have some concerns at this point,’ Graves said. Graves added: ‘Methane has
greater global warming potential than many other greenhouse gases. To the extent we can sensibly capture fugitive emissions, we should do it.’” [Washington Examiner,
8/29/19
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Methane Rollback Could Handcuff Future Rules.
according to Politico, “The Trump administration is pursuing a narrow interpretation of the Clean Air Act that could prevent future presidents from using EPA to regulate greenhouse
gas emissions from a wide variety of industries. The approach is outlined in EPA’s proposed rollback of Obama-era oil and gas methane rules. The new proposal argues EPA erred in the previous administration by using a catch-all provision of the law to regulate
methane pollution from the oil and gas sector, and it builds on questions EPA first raised in its December proposal easing carbon dioxide requirements for newly built coal-fired power plants. The core issue is the threshold at which any given source category
— such as oil and gas producers — ‘contributes significantly’ to air pollution that endangers human health and welfare. ‘Congress has made clear that in order to be subject to regulation, the emissions must have a greater impact than a simple contribution,’
EPA wrote in Thursday’s proposal. The agency would thus have ‘discretion’ to determine just what level of contribution is significant. The Trump administration’s Thursday proposal cites procedural issues to dump all methane requirements for oil and gas producers,
despite objections from major companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell and Equinor. And environmentalists worry the administration is attempting to stymie any future EPA climate regulations against other sectors.” [Politico,
8/29/19 (=)]
Australia's Carbon Emissions Rise Again, Largely Thanks To LNG Industry.
According to The Guardian, “Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise despite the Morrison government claiming it is taking ‘sensible, responsible action’ to address the
climate crisis, the latest official data shows. National emissions increased by 3.1m tonnes in the year to March to reach 538.9m tonnes, a 0.6% jump on the previous year, the report released on Friday revealed. Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation
continue to decrease, reflecting the falling cost of solar and wind energy, but this is being more than cancelled out by the growth in emissions from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry, mostly in northern Western Australia. Emissions from LNG
were up 4.7m tonnes over the year. The report, published by the environment department, does not include a graph that shows the change in annual emissions over time, preferring instead analyses that suggest Australia’s carbon footprint is improving based on
per capita and per dollar of GDP calculations. The graphs below are independently derived from the official data. Total national emissions have increased each year since the government abolished a national carbon price in 2014.
The increase in emissions according to official data was not as great as forecast by the private emissions-tracking organisation Ndevr Environmental, which suggested electricity emissions had started to increase again.” [The Guardian,
8/30/19 (=)]
EPA Plan Would Prevent Methane Limits For Existing Oil & Gas Sources.
According to Inside EPA, “EPA’s just-issued proposal to scuttle Obama-era methane controls for new and modified oil and gas facilities argues that such standards are ‘redundant’ because
existing limits on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), an ozone precursor, also have the indirect effect of limiting methane. A major consequence of the plan is that it would block any future EPA obligation to issue requirements for existing sources in the
sector. In addition, the proposed Aug. 29 new source performance standards (NSPS) would drop all air control requirements for transmission and storage infrastructure, arguing that the prior administration unlawfully extended its rules to that type of equipment.
And while the proposal would retain a key Obama-era legal finding regarding greenhouse gas ‘endangerment,’ the agency is also accepting comment on ‘alternative’ legal interpretations favored by conservative groups that could undermine the foundation for several
key air and climate rules. A prime rationale for the proposal is to block existing source methane rules under section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), given that the NSPS’ regulation of the source category’s methane emissions was a legal trigger for existing
source rules.” [Inside EPA,
8/29/19 (=)]
EPA Proposes To Drop Direct Methane Rules For Oil & Gas Sector.
According to Inside EPA, “The Trump EPA is proposing to drop direct methane regulations for new sources in the oil and gas sector, reverting to a prior approach that relies on controlling
smog-forming emissions and would also capture methane as a co-benefit. The Aug. 29 plan would also drop all emission control requirements for the sector’s transmission and storage component, arguing that Obama administration officials unlawfully extended rules
to those sub-sectors when it issued its methane requirements in 2016. A chief consequence of the proposal is that it would remove EPA’s eventual obligation to regulate existing oil and gas sources under section 111 of the Clean Air Act, though the agency is
offering several claims for why it believes that step would have a ‘limited’ environmental impact.” [Inside EPA,
8/29/19 (=)]
Chad Ellwood
Research Associate
202.448.2877 ext. 119