Statement on EPA Recission of Federal Methane Pollution Standards

The Clean Air Task Force criticizes the EPA's decision to rescind methane pollution standards for the oil and gas industry, noting that the 2016 rules had reduced emissions by 330 million metric tons of CO2e since their inception. The statement highlights that the move removes federal controls for the country's largest industrial methane source and weakens leak detection and repair requirements, particularly in the transmission and storage segment. Furthermore, the EPA's new policy position requires a 'significant contribution finding' before regulating air pollutants under the new source performance standard program, which the author claims prevents the agency from addressing hundreds of thousands of older pollution sites. The document also links oil and gas air pollution to over one million childhood asthma attacks annually.

• The EPA is rescinding methane pollution standards for the oil and natural gas industry, which includes weakening requirements for finding and fixing equipment leaks and removing standards for volatile organic compounds for a portion of the industry.
• The EPA has adopted a policy stating that air pollutants from a source category cannot be regulated under the new source performance standard program without a formal 'significant contribution finding' that emissions contribute to dangerous pollution.
• Methane standards implemented in 2016 reduced emissions by the equivalent of 330 million metric tons of CO2e between 2016 and 2020.
• The rescission affects thousands of sites in the transmission and storage segment that were previously required to find and fix leaks under the 2016 rules.
• EPA analysis shows that air pollution from the oil and gas sector causes more than one million asthma attacks in children every year.

APA

Smith, S. (2020). Statement on EPA Recission of Federal Methane Pollution Standards. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2020/08/statement-on-epa-recission-of-federal-methane-pollution-standards/

Chicago

Smith, Sarah. Statement on EPA Recission of Federal Methane Pollution Standards. Clean Air Task Force, 2020. https://www.catf.us/2020/08/statement-on-epa-recission-of-federal-methane-pollution-standards/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Smith |first1=Sarah |title=Statement on EPA Recission of Federal Methane Pollution Standards |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=13 August 2020 |url=https://www.catf.us/2020/08/statement-on-epa-recission-of-federal-methane-pollution-standards/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{smith2020statement, author = {Smith, Sarah}, title = {{Statement on EPA Recission of Federal Methane Pollution Standards}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://www.catf.us/2020/08/statement-on-epa-recission-of-federal-methane-pollution-standards/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }