Obama's Methane Regulation Plan Too Weak to Fix Climate Crisis, Say Green Groups

The Obama administration’s new plan to regulate methane, formally unveiled on Wednesday, does not go far enough—or take effect quickly enough—to make real progress in the effort to curb the climate crisis, say green groups.

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A cornerstone of the Obama administration’s strategy is a “new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 – 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Methane emissions are up to 87 times more climate polluting than carbon dioxide over a 20-year span, and according to the Obama administration’s own research, “accounted for nearly 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2012, of which nearly 30 percent came from the production transmission and distribution of oil and natural gas.”

The “series of steps” outlined to meet this goal, however, falls short of what environmental organizations have called for.

The administration will embark on a plan to impose new methane pollution standards on “new and modified oil and gas production sources, and natural gas processing and transmission sources,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Existing sources of methane pollution will not face any new requirements.

According to critics, exclusion of old and existing wells from the new plan is a glaring omission.  A recent study by Princeton University researchers, for example, found that the 300,000 to 500,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania are responsible for “substantial” methane emissions. “Millions of abandoned wells exist across the country and some are likely to be high emitters,” the scientists warn.

Furthermore, there will be a significant delay in the implementation of these not-yet-defined standards. “EPA will issue a proposed rule in the summer of 2015 and a final rule will follow in 2016,” states the White House fact sheet.

“Putting out a plan that aims to reduce methane emissions is yet another delay in making true progress,” said Kate DeAngelis, climate and energy campaigner of Friends of the Earth, in a statement released Wednesday. “While the Obama Administration puts off taking action, the world is already feeling the devastating impacts of climate disruption. If the Obama administration is serious about addressing climate change, we must leave fossil fuels in the ground.”