Senate Moves to Protect Our Health and Climate from Rampant Methane Pollution
WASHINGTON – On a bipartisan vote, the Senate today endorsed a congressional resolution of disapproval offered by senators Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Angus King of Maine and Edward Markey of Massachusetts that aims to rescind an egregious Trump administration rule allowing dangerous increases of methane pollution from oil and gas operations.
The following is a statement from David Doniger, senior strategic director in the Climate & Clean Energy program at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“The Senate has voted to revoke the free pass Trump’s EPA gave big polluters to leak some 15 million of tons of super-potent methane into the air each year, putting our health and climate at risk. This bipartisan vote reinforces President Biden’s direction, in his Day One executive order, for EPA to set strong limits on the rampant methane leakage from both new and existing oil and gas operations across the country.”
Background:
Methane pollution is the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon pollution. Methane emissions from oil and gas operations pack 86 times the climate-warming wallop of carbon dioxide over 20 years—equivalent to more than 1.3 billion metric tons of CO2, the annual emissions of 280 million cars.
Last fall, NRDC and partners sued the Trump Environmental Protection Agency seeking to block its rollback of a 2016 standard limiting methane pollution leaking from new sources in the oil and gas industry. The Trump administration move gave the industry free rein to pollute and surrendered on climate action.
On January 20, President Biden signed an executive order to reconsider the Trump methane rule applying to methane emissions in the oil and gas sector for new and modified sources.
Please see a blog by David Doniger for more: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/david-doniger/nrdc-and-partners-go-court-epas-methane-surrender
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.