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Methane emissions standards released

Michael Bennet: Plan will fight climate change
The Obama administration Wednesday set a new target to cut methane emissions by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2025.

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration laid out a blueprint Wednesday for the first regulations to cut down on methane emissions from new natural-gas wells, aiming to curb the discharge of a potent greenhouse gas by about half.

Relying once again on the Clean Air Act, the rules join a host of others that President Barack Obama has ordered in an effort to slow global warming despite opposition to new laws in Congress that has only hardened since the Republican victories in midterm elections. Although just a sliver of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, methane is far more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

The White House set a new target for the U.S. to cut methane emissions by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2025, compared to 2012 levels. To meet that goal, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue a proposal affecting gas and oil production, while the Interior Department also will update its standards for drilling to reduce leakage from wells on public lands.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., urged the White House on Wednesday to follow Colorado’s model for curbing methane emissions.

Colorado became the first state to limit methane emissions from the gas and oil industries in February 2014, when the state’s Air Quality Control Commission adopted rules that required companies to find and fix methane leaks.

Additionally, companies are required to install technology that captures 95 percent of emissions of methane and volatile organic compounds.

“Capturing fugitive methane emissions needs to be a key component of our national strategy to clean up our air and combat climate change,” Bennet said in a statement.

“The Administration should follow Colorado’s lead by working with all parties to craft rules that significantly reduce fugitive methane emissions, while also providing the necessary flexibility and assurances for the regulated community,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, was on a GOP retreat and was unavailable for comment Wednesday. U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., could not be reached Wednesday evening.

A NASA study released in October revealed one methane “hot spot” in the Four Corners is responsible for producing the largest concentration of the greenhouse gas in the nation.

But whether the leakage around the San Juan Basin is the result of energy-industry activities or the result of a natural occurrence is a topic of debate.

NASA’s study was conducted from 2003 to 2009, before methane-capture standards were strengthened and before energy producers in the area began using new capturing and detection technologies.

How much will the regulations cost the energy industry? The White House said it won’t have specific estimates until later.

“There are significant, highly cost-effective opportunities for reducing methane emissions from this sector,” said Dan Utech, Obama’s climate and energy adviser. “We’re confident we can do this in a cost-effective way.”

Methane, which leaks during production of natural gas, has grown as a concern for environmentalists amid the ongoing boom in drilling for natural gas and oil in the U.S. Yet these rules will target new or modified natural-gas wells, meaning thousands of existing wells won’t have to comply. The Obama administration left open the possibility it could regulate methane from existing wells in the future while asking the energy industry to take voluntary steps to curb emissions in the meantime.

Though long in the works, the methane plans come at a particularly sensitive moment for Obama’s environmental agenda. Republicans, incensed that Obama has made copious use of executive action to sidestep Congress on climate and other issues, have made rolling back those actions one of their first orders of business this year now that they control both chambers.

Obama’s intention to eventually force drillers to cut methane emissions long has been part of his broader strategy on climate change, and Wednesday’s announcement may prove to be incremental.

Last year, the White House said the EPA would study how methane is released during drilling and determine whether it needed new regulations. That the administration has now decided it does need more regulations will surprise few. But the key details – how the regulations will affect industry’s bottom line and how deeply they’ll reduce greenhouse gases – won’t come until the government formally proposes the rule. That won’t come until later this year, with plans to finalize it in 2016 – the final year of Obama’s presidency.

Officials couldn’t say how far the rules will go toward meeting Obama’s goal to cut overall greenhouse-gas emissions up to 28 percent by 2025, other than that the contribution would be “significant.” But environmentalists argue that cutting methane is key to curbing climate change, and some scientists have said that without methane controls, the country’s shift from coal to natural gas will have less of an environmental benefit. “This is a landmark moment,” said Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The gas and oil industry insisted such rules aren’t necessary because methane emissions already are on the decline, and said gas producers are working to reduce methane leaks. After all, methane is natural gas, so the less that leaks during production, the more of it that companies have left to sell.

“The president’s plan is another case of the administration adding new red tape to make mandatory what industry has been doing voluntarily for several years,” said Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance, which represents gas and oil companies.

Michael Cipriano, a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald, contributed to this report.



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