EPA and DOE Announce $850M to Cut Methane Pollution

(Washington, D.C.) EPA and the Department of Energy today announced $850 million in available funding through the Methane Emissions Reduction Program, created by Congress under the Inflation Reduction Act to cut pollution from oil and gas operations nationwide. 

The funding will further improve mitigation technologies, help states and tribes with their methane standard implementation plans and help smaller operators comply with EPA methane standards published this past spring. The program is designed to complement and facilitate compliance with the EPA methane rule and the program’s waste emissions charge. 

“This funding is a critical component of one of the biggest, most impactful climate initiatives undertaken by Congress and this administration. Cutting methane pollution from oil and gas operations is one of the fastest ways we have to slow the rate of warming. These funds will help states, tribes and communities get the job done quicker, and help small operators meet new emissions performance rules,” said Jon Goldstein, EDF’s Senior Director, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs.     

MERP allocated over a billion dollars to reduce methane pollution from oil and gas industry operations. Through technical and financial assistance, the program will cut methane waste, improve efficiency for energy production and protect the climate.  

Methane is over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the near term, and human-caused methane emissions drive about 30 percent of current global warming. Reducing oil and gas methane emissions is the fastest, most cost-effective way to slow our current rate of warming.   

The announcement follows the release of $350 million in funding in an earlier round for states to reduce emissions at marginal conventional wells, which are low-producing but responsible for about half of wellsite emissions nationwide. Fourteen states including Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and New Mexico took part in that program and received funding based on their proportion of marginal conventional wells.