Why do we need methane rules?
Rules that limit methane pollution from oil and gas operations will help combat climate change, reduce air pollution, and protect public health. Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas with over 80 times more climate warming power than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. In the United States, the oil and gas industry is the largest industrial source of methane pollution, leaking 16 million metric tons into our air per year—the equivalent of the climate pollution from all of the nation’s passenger vehicles in a year.
Wherever oil and gas are being drilled, compressed, processed, and sent through pipelines, you can find methane leaking along with other harmful pollutants that accelerate climate change and put the health of our families at risk. Those who are located the closest to oil and gas operations are impacted the most, but air pollution can travel long distances affecting the air quality of people living hundreds of miles away.
Quickly and significantly reducing methane pollution is one of the best levers we have to slow the rate of climate change now and help clean up the air to protect children’s health.
Do methane rules work?
Yes. Strong and comprehensive methane rules that are enforced will cut air pollution contributing to climate change and help protect public health. Reductions in methane pollution will have the benefit of reducing associated smog-forming harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and toxic air pollutants such as benzene that can cause asthma attacks, respiratory diseases, and even cancer.
Having rules that hold the oil and gas industry accountable for their methane pollution will be a significant improvement over relying on the current self-reported estimates. Studies have found that the oil and gas industry has underreported the amount of methane pollution they emit to the Environmental Protection Agency. One study found methane emissions levels to be 60% greater than what the oil and gas industry self-reports.
In 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule that will cut methane and other harmful air pollutants from newly built and older existing oil and gas operations. The proposed rule would reduce 41 million tons of methane, 12 million tons of volatile organic compounds, and 480,000 tons of hazardous air pollutants by 2035. This important step forward will help protect the health of our children from the impacts of air pollution and climate change.
Here’s how moms are working to protect families from methane pollution—and how you can help.
Our children deserve the best protections from oil and gas pollution. Federal methane rules are needed to create baseline protections for all children across the nation, especially for states that have failed to enact meaningful oil and gas methane rules.
In 2021, EPA proposed a rule that will cut methane and other harmful air pollutants from newly built and older existing oil and gas operations. For the first time, a proposed methane rule applied to the nation’s nearly one million older, existing oil and gas operations. This important step forward would help protect the health of our children from the impacts of air pollution and climate change. However, there were gaps in the 2021 proposal that would let large sources of methane pollution go unchecked. That’s why Moms Clean Air Force showed up in force to support the strongest possible methane rules in late 2021 and early 2022. Along with our coalition partners, we submitted more than 400,000 comments to EPA before the public comment period closed on January 31, 2022.
In November 2022, EPA released an updated methane proposal. The new proposal will reduce methane pollution from sources covered by the rule by 87% below 2005 levels. It also strengthens leak detection and repair requirements, continues to require equipment not to emit methane, addresses high-emission incidents with a new monitoring response program, and require that abandoned wells are subject to inspections until they are closed.
Tell EPA to swiftly finalize this methane rule—to help ensure everyone’s right to clean air.
Moms Clean Air Force also supports state-based efforts to limit harmful methane pollution from oil and gas operations. States can step up to, not just meet, but exceed the proposed federal rules. Moms Clean Air Force has been working hard on the ground in states to urge governors, state lawmakers, and agencies to lead with methane rules to slash harmful air pollution from oil and gas operations and protect our families. Some states have already implemented state-based methane protections.
Colorado was the first state to adopt methane rules in 2014 and strengthened these rules in 2019 and then again in 2021 to further protect public health and the climate.
In Pennsylvania, general permits that set methane standards for new and modified sources of natural gas pollution were finalized in 2018.
In 2021 and 2022, New Mexico finalized nation-leading rules to cut methane pollution from newly built and recently modified oil and gas operations.
Several other states have started implementing mechanisms to reduce oil and gas pollution, including California, Ohio, Utah, and Wyoming. However, it is imperative that all states do much more to cut methane emissions.
If you live in a state where there are oil and gas operations, you can demand that your elected officials and agencies show leadership in reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations.