EDF Launches “We’re Fired Up” Ad Supporting Biden Efforts to Finalize Strong Oil and Gas Methane Rules that Protect Pennsylvania’s Health and Climate

(PITTSBURGH) Today, Environmental Defense Fund launched its “We’re Fired Up” ad campaign, a six figure broadcast buy in the Pittsburgh market alongside digital ads across Pennsylvania praising President Joe Biden for putting forward strong rules to curb oil and gas methane pollution. 

“President Biden has stood up to polluters and put forward a strong, commonsense proposal that would significantly cut methane pollution from oil and gas well sites across Pennsylvania and the U.S.,” said Jon Goldstein, Senior Director of Regulatory & Legislative Affairs at EDF. “For the future of Pennsylvania’s climate and the health of those living closest to oil and gas wells, the EPA must adopt the strongest rules possible as quickly as possible.” 

Click here to watch the ad. 

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide for the first twenty years that it remains in the atmosphere. Methane pollution is also responsible for more than 25 percent of the climate change Pennsylvania experiences today. 

Oil and gas operations in Pennsylvania release hundreds of thousands of tons of methane pollution each year alongside smog-forming volatile organic compounds as well as toxic and cancer-causing air pollutants like benzene. 

Last month, tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians testified in support of strong oil and gas methane rules as the Environmental Protection Agency wrapped-up a public comment period on its draft proposal. The EPA is expected to finalize its oil and gas methane rules by the end of the summer. 

The draft rules include key provisions such as monitoring at all oil and gas well sites – including at low-producing wells with failure-prone equipment that produce just 6% of the nation’s oil and gas but 50% of site-level methane emissions – and a transition to zero-emission pneumatic devices, in addition to third-party monitoring for super-emitter emission events. 

Advocates continue to press EPA to expand retrofit requirements for pneumatic pumps designed to pollute, which are the industry’s No. 2 source of methane emissions, and to end pollution from the routine flaring of associated gas, a common problem in oil fields that contributes to climate change and ozone pollution across multiple states. 

The ad will run on local Pittsburgh-area broadcast TV stations over the next week as well as streaming platforms and online digital media over the next month. 

Clean Air Council and the Environmental Health Project also co-sponsored the ad campaign. 

Pennsylvanians who want to support efforts to finalize strong oil and gas methane rules can do so at edf.org/MethaneActionNow