Coming soon: Trump administration poised to weaken national methane protections

The Trump administration is soon expected to propose weakening protections against methane, a super pollutant responsible for about 30% of the warming of our planet.

The proposal, which is in the final stages of White House review, is expected to significantly loosen standards that currently require oil and gas producers to reduce their pollution, find and fix methane leaks, and end wasteful flaring, or burning off, of natural gas. 

EPA finalized standards in 2024 that, for the first time, establish protective limits on methane pollution from both new and existing oil and gas sources. The standards also reduce health-harming pollution like smog-forming volatile organic compounds and air toxics. Last year, the Trump EPA delayed the core standards, and the agency has since moved to weaken parts of these protections to allow additional flaring of natural gas.

These rollbacks are expected on the heels of the Trump EPA’s announcement last week to try to eliminate life-saving limits on climate pollution from power plants. 

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The 2024 methane standards are commonsense safeguards that protect people’s health and help prevent a massive and unnecessary waste of energy.

• These standards are already working to deliver cleaner air for millions of people and reduce the risk of wildfires, heat waves and floods fueled by climate change.
• As of 2024, 9.2 million people live within a half-mile of an active well.
• Requiring oil and gas operators to cut methane prevents the needless waste of natural gas – gas that could go to heat our homes and provide electricity as energy bills skyrocket.
• Since the Trump administration announced it would no longer enforce these methane regulations last year, the oil and gas industry has leaked, vented or flared more than $6 billion worth of natural gas, according to EDF research.
• Reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry is the fastest way to slow climate change, and there are readily available solutions to drive down this pollution. The International Energy Agency estimates that about 30% of global methane emissions from fossil fuels could be abated at no net cost because the additional gas can be captured and sold.
• Major oil and gas producing states, such as Colorado and New Mexico, already have strong protections in place for low-production wells and flaring, and are moving forward to implement other EPA standards.

Reports suggest the proposal will gut protections for low-producing wells, an outsize source of methane pollution.

• Although marginal well sites account for less than 5% of the nation’s oil and gas supply, research and a DOE study indicate that they are responsible for about half of the industry’s methane emissions.
• Many marginal wells emit as much or more gas than they reported producing, according to research from the Appalachian Basin.
• EPA already requires low-producing wells drilled since 2016 to utilize cost-effective pollution reduction techniques, such as regularly monitoring for leaks.
• The vast majority of low-producing wells are owned by large companies with the resources to deploy commonsense solutions to reduce energy waste and stop pollution.
• A small handful of corporations dominate ownership of the U.S.’s low-producing well sites: 72 companies, each owning more than 1,000 operating well sites, control nearly half of these marginal wells.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has signaled that the Trump administration could also take additional steps to weaken flaring safeguards.

• Flaring has significant health and climate impacts, costing an estimated $5.6 billion in health and climate costs in 2023 in the U.S., according to EDF research.
• Flares also malfunction frequently, venting methane and other pollution directly into our atmosphere instead of routing that energy into our homes, schools and businesses.
• Oil companies and governments responsible for 60% of flaring worldwide have committed to ending routine flaring by 2030.
• Rolling back flaring protections would needlessly waste natural gas at a time of surging electricity demand.