We Answer Your Questions About the EPA’s 2021 Methane Proposal and How It Will Create Jobs, Reduce Methane Pollution, and Protect Workers and Communities

The following post is from BlueGreen Alliance Associate Policy Advisor Karsyn Kendrick.

Back in November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Proposed Standards of Performance for New, Reconstructed, Modified, and Existing Sources in the Oil and Natural Gas Sector. These standards are designed to prevent the release of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from oil and gas operations, protecting workers and local communities, addressing climate change, and creating jobs by driving deployment of cost-effective, available technology and practices to reduce methane leaks.

The 2021 proposal comes after the Trump administration rolled back multiple provisions from the 2016 new source performance standards under the Obama administration, ultimately weakening the rule and putting workers and communities in harm’s way.

Today, I’ll be answering four common questions about methane and the EPA’s proposal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.

Why Does Regulating Methane Matter?

Methane is the primary component of natural gas. It is an extremely potent greenhouse gas and the second largest contributor to global climate change. It is also more short-lived in our atmosphere, meaning that reducing methane emissions today would result in a bigger impact on our efforts to clean up our air and help the U.S. meet its emissions reduction targets.

Exposure to harmful air pollution from the oil and gas industry can increase risk of asthma attacks and cancer. Industry practices emit volatile organic compounds, which contribute to ground-level ozone. Exposure to such pollution causes shortness of breath, inflammation of and damage to the airways, aggravation of lung disease, increased asthma attacks, and creation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (commonly known as COPD), among other effects.

Oil and gas industry VOC emissions also include harmful toxins like benzene and ethylbenzene, which are known or suspected to cause cancer and other negative health effects. These toxins create dangerous risks for both workers in the industry and communities living nearby. The current EPA proposal will do much to reduce these harmful risks to workers and communities.

What Will the Current EPA Proposal Do?

The EPA has estimated that the proposal would ultimately reduce methane emissions by 41 million tons through 2035, prevent 12 million tons of VOC pollution and 480,000 tons of air toxics through 2035, and yield $4.5 billion in net climate benefits per year.

The current EPA proposal would build on the 2016 New Source Performance Standards, expanding and strengthening the emissions reductions requirements. The new proposal would require companies to find and fix methane leaks at well sites and compressor stations, allow companies flexibility to use advanced methane detection technologies, impose new requirements for zero-emitting pneumatic controllers, prohibit venting of associated gases from oil wells, and strengthen emission requirements for storage tanks.

The EPA has estimated that the proposal would ultimately reduce methane emissions by 41 million tons through 2035, prevent 12 million tons of VOC pollution and 480,000 tons of air toxics through 2035, and yield $4.5 billion in net climate benefits per year.

How Will Cutting Methane Emissions Create Jobs?

With full and continuing adoption of leak reducing technologies and practices at new and modified oil and gas facilities, over 50,000 jobs would be created over the first decade.

More than just protecting the environment, communities, and workers, the EPA proposal would also lead to the creation of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in a variety of sectors, including manufacturing. Our 2016 report, Plugging the Leaks, found that implementing the practices and technologies required under the 2016 EPA methane standards would create nearly 5,400 direct and indirect jobs each year. With full and continuing adoption of leak reducing technologies and practices at new and modified oil and gas facilities, over 50,000 jobs would be created over the first decade.

Since 2017, the methane mitigation industry’s service sector has nearly doubled in size, while the number of manufacturing firms has grown by one third since 2014. That same data from our partners at the Environmental Defense Fund show there are currently over 225 manufacturing and service companies with 100 locations across the country and over 65% of these are small businesses with potential to grow with national methane reduction efforts. These standards would not only offer steady job sustainment, they would require high-skilled, trade professionals. The starting salary for methane mitigation jobs is nearly 10% higher than the average national salary, paying up to $140,000 a year.

What is Happening Now?

The initial period of public comment on the EPA’s proposed rule closed on January 31, 2022. However, there is still time to make your voice heard on the EPA methane proposal!

The EPA is planning to issue a supplemental proposal this year that would provide the actual regulatory text for the rule and may expand or modify the components of the November proposal. The supplemental was originally planned for release in March 2022, but may be delayed until May. The supplemental will open an additional public comment period before the EPA issues the final rule at the end of this year.

To keep up to date with EPA methane regulations, check out this EPA landing page, and more information on the contents of the proposal can be found here, including fact sheets and supporting information.

In addition to the EPA proposal, in November of 2021, the Biden administration released the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Plan. This plan represents a whole-of-government approach to reduce methane, outlining administrative efforts to reduce methane from landfills, the agricultural sector, in industrial applications, and in buildings.