Date: March 4, 2024
To:
President Joseph Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Administrator Michael Regan
Environmental Protection Agency
Office of the Administrator
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Re: Thank you for your leadership on methane issues
Dear President Biden and Administrator Regan,
On behalf of our tens of millions of members and supporters, we are writing to thank
you for your leadership in finalizing standards to cut methane pollution and other
harmful air pollutants from the oil and gas sector. This important action is a critical step
toward addressing climate change, protecting public health, and creating new jobs.
These common-sense protections address one of the single largest sources of
climate-destabilizing pollution in the U.S. and the world. Methane is 80 times more
powerful at warming the climate than carbon dioxide, and over one-third of the warming
the world is experiencing today is due to methane emissions from human activities.
Reducing methane emissions is essential to slow the rate of climate change and
prevent its worst impacts such as more extreme weather events.
In addition to its climate benefits, this rule will also improve air quality and protect public
health. Methane gas is emitted from oil and gas equipment alongside other dangerous
emissions, including smog- and soot-forming volatile organic compounds and air toxins
like benzene, a human carcinogen. These pollutants disproportionately impact the
health and safety of low-income communities and communities of color in places such
as Southern California, Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico as well as low-income
communities and the elderly in Appalachia. Volatile organic compounds worsen asthma,
cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and lead to a suite of other health
problems. The EPA estimates that reductions of VOCs from this rule will avoid up to
100,000 asthma attacks each year.
We commend you for taking this important step to address climate change and protect
the health and well-being of our communities. Now the work begins to ensure strong
and effective implementation in order to better protect communities from the impacts of
oil and gas. Speedy adoption and significant enforcement by regulatory agencies is
essential to protect the climate and the health of environmental justice communities, oil
and gas workers, and those living on the frontline of extraction. We look forward to
working with the EPA and state agencies to realize the full potential of this action to
reduce the impacts of methane from oil and gas production as we move away from
fossil fuels and build a clean energy future.
Thank you for your leadership on methane issues, and we hope to see consistent and
continued effort to reign in the harms of oil and gas pollution and move away from fossil
fuels from this administration in the future.
Sincerely,
350 Colorado
Center For Coalfield Justice
Change the Chamber
Citizens Caring for the Future
Clean Air Council
Clean Water Action
Earthworks
Environment Texas
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Health Project
GreenLatinos
Health Action New Mexico
High Tide Foundation
Interfaith Power & Light
League of Conservation Voters
Liveable Arlington
Los Padres ForestWatch
Moms Clean Air Force
National Parks Conservation Association
National Wildlife Federation
New Mexico & El Paso region Interfaith Power and Light
New Mexico Sportsmen
Oxfam America
PA Jewish Earth Alliance
PennEnvironment
Pennsylvania Clean Air Council and Jewish Earth Action
Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
Public Land Solutions
Rio Grande Indivisible, New Mexico
Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC)
Runners for Public Lands
Sierra Club
West Virginia Rivers Coalition
Western Leaders Network