EPA Issues Guidance on Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Flaring Standards

(WASHINGTON) — Today EPA issued guidance on the May 7, 2026 deadline for oil and gas producers to achieve compliance with standards that prevent the routine flaring, or burning off, of gas produced at oil wells. EPA’s guidance reminds operators of an exemption allowing flaring for up to 30 days during temporary interruptions in service. EPA also reaffirmed its intention to rollback methane standards for new and existing sources.

“EPA is right that ‘we can both protect human health and the environment and grow the economy at the same time,’ but disappointingly EPA’s prior choice to not enforce methane flaring protections fails on all three fronts, letting more harmful pollution into our air and allowing more methane to go to waste instead of reaching our homes,” said Grace Smith, EDF Senior Attorney for Legal and Regulatory Affairs.

“There are technical solutions available to reduce flaring and associated methane waste, and EPA should enforce the existing methane rules to get that gas into pipelines and to consumers who are struggling to make ends meet. Nearly $5 billion in methane has been wasted since the Trump administration’s EPA stopped enforcing oil and gas methane regulations, gas that could have gone to heat our homes and provide electricity as energy bills skyrocket.”

The agency previously stopped enforcing methane protections and has announced it will propose a broader reconsideration of the rules as part of its deregulatory agenda. Operators have had two years to prepare to comply with the flaring standards. The flaring standards, known as OOOOb and OOOOc, cut methane waste by mandating operators make use of the technically available solutions to avoid burning off excess gas.

Our Methane Waste Counter tracks how much methane has gone to waste through leaking, venting and flaring since the Trump administration announced it would no longer enforce oil and gas methane regulations on March 12, 2025. In just one year without regulations, oil and gas corporations wasted $4.2 billion-worth of natural gas, enough to meet the needs of nearly 22 million households or fill 434 LNG tankers for export. That waste is occurring as global natural gas demand reached an all-time high in 2024. The amount of natural gas wasted under the Trump administration is expected to cross the $5 billion threshold by May 7.

Research has found that flaring has significant climate and health impacts, with a recent study estimating $5.6 billion in climate and health costs from flaring in 2023 alone. Flares also malfunction frequently, venting methane directly into the atmosphere instead of routing that energy to our homes.

In December 2023, EPA finalized clean air standards that, for the first time, set protective limits on methane pollution from both new and existing oil and gas sources.