President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday reminded Americans it has not let off the … lithium-ion battery? when it comes to damaging rules and regulations. The EPA announced a proposed effort to tighten methane regulations for the oil and gas sector, which for the first time targets reductions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, instead of only new wells.
If finalized, the proposed requirements would reduce methane emissions from U.S. drilling operations and equipment by approximately 75 percent by 2030, compared with 2005, according to the White House. The standards in the proposal would be stricter than those set during the Obama administration, in 2016.
While the American Petroleum Institute has said it is supportive of reasonable efforts to reduce emissions, it takes issue with at least one piece of the Biden plan. API opposes efforts to impose fees on methane leaks, calling them punitive and unnecessary.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., was more direct.
“As I’ve said time and time again, we should not demonize an industry that is part of the lifeblood of our economy, especially as our country and much of the world face severe energy supply constraints as we head into winter. Instead, we should be acknowledging the emissions reductions accomplishments we have made and look for more ways to further incentivize those reductions. This move by the Biden administration is yet another attack on U.S. energy. If today’s announcement by the EPA wasn’t enough, Congressional Democrats continue to look at imposing a methane fee, really a natural gas tax, that would not only make already elevated heating, electricity, and fuel costs even more expensive, but also it would put jobs in energy-producing states like West Virginia at risk.”
She’s right, of course. But the EPA has already proved it is more worried about looking busy than about genuinely protecting both the environment AND the people living in it. Why should we have hoped this time would be any different?