On December 2, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a final rule that will strengthen and expand standards to reduce methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in the oil and natural gas sector.

Statement from Autumn Hanna, Vice President of Taxpayers for Common Sense

“Taxpayers for Common Sense welcomes the release of the EPA’s updated methane waste rule that strengthens and expands standards to reduce methane and volatile organic compound emissions in the oil and natural gas sector. Methane waste threatens energy security, costs taxpayers lost revenue, undermines fiscal responsibility, and accelerates the fiscal impacts of climate change.

For too long, oil and gas operators have been allowed to vent, flare, and leak methane during their operations, wasting billions of dollars’ worth of valuable resources that could have been delivered to consumers. We are pleased EPA’s proposal addresses methane waste more comprehensively from both new and existing sources.”

Background

During oil and gas development, operators regularly flare (burn), vent (release), and leak billions of cubic feet of natural gas every year. The oil and gas industry is the largest industrial emitter of methane in the United States, with natural gas and petroleum systems accounting for one third of all U.S. methane emissions in 2020. This wasted natural gas not only costs taxpayers by keeping a valuable resource from interested consumers, but also contributes to the rising costs and increasingly deadly impacts of climate change.

The costs of climate change are large and have effectively become a tax on the American public. Over the last five years, taxpayers have shouldered an average annual cost of approximately $62 billion solely dedicated to various programs aimed at combating and mitigating the impacts of climate change. That amount is 35 percent higher than the average of the previous five years. Future taxpayer costs of these programs are only expected to rise in the future, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars – each year.

In this final rule, we are particularly encouraged to see the EPA addressing the wasteful practices of routine flaring of associate gas. These practices not only harm the environment but also represent a significant economic loss. We also applaud the EPA’s effort to increase transparency and accessibility of data of the Super Emitter program, which can account for a significant amount of methane emissions but are underrepresented in current data.\

Additional Resources

• TCS Comments on EPA Supplemental Proposal on Methane: TCS comments on the proposed supplemental rule, “Standards of Performance for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Oil and Natural Gas Sector Climate Review.”
• Gas Giveaways II: Methane Waste on Federal Lands is Business as Usual: TCS report on the billions of cubic feet of methane that is vented, flared, and leaked by oil and gas operators on federal lands every year.
• Budget Watchdog AF (All Federal) — Ep. 29: Venting & Flaring: TCS podcast on how methane waste from oil and gas development on federal lands is causing economic damage to all taxpayers – and the climate.
• Taxpayer and Climate Costs of Methane Emissions Fact Sheet: TCS factsheet on the taxpayer costs and climate impacts of methane released into the atmosphere during oil and gas production.