Monday, September 2, 2019
The EPA propose a plan to relax methane emission regulations
The regulations being lifted include those that require oil and gas companies to limit methane leaks from wells, pipelines, and storage. The EPA describes the rules as "unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens." There is an open 60-day public comment period that is sure to create some amount of public unrest, especially considering the future of transportation, environmental change, and natural resource usages.
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Reading the article, what the Trump administration is basically implying is that since methane is valuable, companies have incentive to keep the leaks to a minimum anyway, which is why these regulations are a burden. However, what he fails to account for is that if the cost for repairing leaks is higher than the money they earn from the methane, they would rather let the leaks be. This is so harmful for the environment as methane contributes 80x more to greenhouse emissions than carbon dioxide. This is where the role of regulations would play in, in order to protect the wellbeing of the environment.. just another disappointing action by the Trump administration.
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