EPA To Propose Methane Reporting Revamp. According to Politico, “EPA is poised to propose changes to how it measures methane emissions from oil and gas operations — a move that could lead to more operators paying methane fees. The White House released the draft rule from review Friday morning, paving the way for a rollout as soon as Wednesday. Congress mandated the changes in last year's climate law, after numerous studies showed current methodologies vastly underestimate how much oil and gas operations leak the powerful greenhouse gas.” [Politico, 7/5/23 (=)]
Gross Under-Reporting Of Fugitive Methane Emissions Has Big Implications For Industry. According to the Institute Of Energy Economics And Financial Analysis, “Our analysis indicates that fugitive methane emissions from coal mining and oil and gas supply have likely been grossly underestimated to date – by about 80% for coal and 90% for oil and gas. Correcting this under-reporting would have big implications for industrial facilities covered by the Safeguard Mechanism. In order to stay within the newly introduced emissions caps, facilities would have to double their rate of decarbonisation and halve their emissions between 2023 and 2030. This highlights the need for urgent action to improve methane emissions monitoring in Australia and to develop a plan to address domestic methane emissions.” [Institute of Energy Economics And Financial Analysis, 7/5/23 (=)]
DOE To Help Distribute Methane Emissions Funds. According to Argus Media, “The funding, provided under the Inflation Reduction Act, has yet to become available to oil and gas companies nearly 11 months after the law's enactment, prompting complaints from some lawmakers. But the DOE late last week said it was partnering with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help with the distribution of $1bn in funding. While the EPA develops the regulations for the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP), which seeks to quickly cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from oil and gas sites by developing fines, the DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will help on the ‘financial and technical assistance aspects of the program,’ the agency said. The partnership ‘will build upon and complement DOE's existing efforts to monitor and mitigate methane emissions across the nation's oil and natural gas producing regions,’ said US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm.” [Argus Media, 7/5/23 (=]
Guess Who’s Been Paying to Block Green Energy? You Have. According to the New York Times, “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we have to make two big transitions at once: First, we have to generate all of our electricity from clean sources, like wind turbines and solar panels, rather than power plants that run on coal and methane gas. Second, we have to retool nearly everything else that burns oil and gas — like cars, buses and furnaces that heat buildings — to run on that clean electricity. These changes are underway, but their speed and ultimate success depend greatly on one kind of company: the utilities that have monopolies to sell us electricity and gas.” [New York Times, 7/5/23 (=)]