Democrats move to reinstate methane rules loosened by Trump
Congressional Democrats are moving to reinstate regulations designed to limit potent greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas fields
April 28, 2021, 4:20 AM
5 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleFILE - In this undated file photo the Trans-Alaska pipeline and pump station north of Fairbanks, Alaska is shown. Congressional Democrats are moving to reinstate regulations designed to limit potent greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas fields. It's part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to combat climate change.(AP Photo/Al Grillo, file)
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats are moving to reinstate regulations designed to limit potent greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas fields, part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to combat climate change.
The Senate is set to take up a resolution Wednesday that would undo an environmental rollback by President Donald Trump that relaxed requirements of a 2016 Obama administration rule targeting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.
The Environmental Protection Agency approved the rule last year. The agency's former administrator, Andrew Wheeler, declared the change would “strengthen and promote American energy'' while saving companies tens of millions of dollars a year in compliance requirements.
Democrats and environmentalists called the methane rollback one of the Trump administration's most egregious actions to deregulate U.S. businesses, noting that methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, packing a stronger punch in the short term than even carbon dioxide.
Preventing methane leaks at oil and gas sites "is a huge part of how we prevent a 1.5 degree (Celsius) rise in global temperatures,'' a key aim of the climate movement, said Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.
Heinrich, a member of the Senate Energy Committee, is co-sponsoring the resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn certain regulations that have been in place for a short time. The Trump rule was finalized last September.
Heinrich called the resolution “a no-brainer,” saying that preventing leaks of methane — a type of natural gas — will save companies money, put people to work and help prevent global warming. The measure is supported by all 50 Senate Democrats as well as Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, but Heinrich and other Democrats say they are hopeful more Republicans will join them.
A similar measure is pending in the House and is expected to win approval.
"I'm surprised and a little disappointed this is not broadly bipartisan,'' Heinrich said, noting that many energy companies, including Shell Oil Co., Occidental Petroleum and Cheniere Energy Inc., support reinstatement of the Obama-era rule.
“It's sort of inertia and dogma at this point” by Republicans to oppose the methane rule, he said in an interview.
Collins, who joined with Democrats to block a GOP-led effort to overturn a similar Obama-era methane rule in 2017, said the new resolution would help tackle climate change and "protect public health and the environment by restoring the tougher standards at EPA that significantly decreased methane emissions.”
Methane is significantly more potent than carbon dioxide "and is highly destructive to the climate,” Collins said.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said Democrats appear intent on demonizing natural gas even though increased natural gas production — spurred by the fracking boom — “actually helped lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions'' over the past decade.
Capito, the top Republican on the Senate Environment Committee, said President Joe Biden “managed to kill thousands of jobs and paralyze America’s energy industry with executive orders” soon after taking office. Biden's moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters "is an economic, energy and national security disaster rolled into one,'' she said.
