Date: July 8, 2024
To:
Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Reject the attempt to block critical methane pollution reduction policies contained in the Fiscal Year 2025 House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
Dear Members of the House Committee on Appropriations:
On behalf of our members and supporters, the groups listed below urge you to reject the attempt to block critical methane pollution reduction policies contained in the Fiscal Year 2025 House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The bill includes harmful provisions to block implementation of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) protective limits on methane pollution from new and existing oil and gas sources. Blocking MERP and EPA’s methane standards would harm the climate, impair public health, increase energy waste, and imperil America’s position as a global leader on methane. Harmful policy riders such as these have no place in the appropriations process and must be rejected.
A potent greenhouse gas, methane has more than 80 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. In the U.S., the oil and gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions. Reducing oil and gas methane emissions is one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to address climate change,1 reduce needless waste, and protect the health of the millions of people living near active oil and gas sites, especially communities of color and low-wealth communities who are disproportionately impacted by pollution.2
The MERP and the EPA methane standards are the backbone of the government’s comprehensive strategy to reduce oil and gas methane pollution. EPA estimates that the methane standards, when fully implemented, will cut pollution from covered sources by 80%, reducing tens of millions of tons of climate-damaging methane, smog-forming pollutants, and toxic compounds from oil and gas leaks and venting and flaring.3 The MERP includes a charge on methane waste, which Congress adopted in the Inflation Reduction Act, that will hold large polluters accountable for excessive pollution. The program also includes over a billion dollars to help communities, industry and states implement the EPA methane standards and improve data collection. These complementary actions are in line with industry-set goals, and many operators understand the need to lower their emissions and have already started doing so. Blocking these actions now would slow the critical progress we’ve made towards stemming wasteful methane leaks and lowering harmful pollution.
Finally, we are deeply concerned that the House FY25 Interior appropriations bill proposes to cut the EPA's budget by 20%. At a time when Americans across the country are contending with record heat waves and wildfires, Congress needs to increase the agency’s budget to ensure the agency has the staff, expertise and resources needed to tackle the climate crisis through programs such as the methane pollution reduction measures outlined above.
We urge you to oppose these harmful measures in the FY25 Interior appropriations bill.
Sincerely,
Appalachian Leaders Network
CCAN Action Fund
Clean Air Council
Clean Air Task Force
Clean Water Action
Climate Action Campaign
Earthjustice
Environment Texas
Environmental Defense Fund
Evergreen Action Green America
High Tide Foundation
Impact Fund
League of Conservation Voters
Liveable Arlington
Los Padres ForestWatch
Lower Merion Sustainability Plan (PA)
Moms Clean Air Force
National Wildlife Federation
Natural Resources Defense Council
Northern Plains Resource Council
Oceana
PA Jewish Earth Alliance
PennEnvironment
Public Land Solutions
Rio Grande Indivisible, New Mexico
Rio Grande International Study Center
Sierra Club
Union of Concerned Scientists
Waterkeeper Alliance
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Western Leaders Network
Western Organization of Resource Councils
Wyoming Outdoor Council
Sources:
1 - IEA, Curtailing Methane Emissions from Fossil Fuel Operations (Oct. 2021), https://www.iea.org/reports/curtailing-methane-emissions-from-fossil-fuel-operations.
2 Proville et al., The demographic characteristics of populations living near oil and gas wells in the USA, 44 Population & Environment 1-14 (2022), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11111-022-00403-2.
3 EPA, EPA Issues Final Rule to Reduce Methane and Other Pollution from Oil and Natural Gas Operations Fact Sheet, https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-12/epas-final-rule-for-oil-and-gas-operations.-overview[1]fact-sheet.pdf.