EPA’s New Standards for Oil & Gas: What They Do, and Don’t Do

The document analyzes the EPA's April 17, 2012, rules for new oil and gas drilling, which mandate 'Reduced Emissions Completion' (REC) technology and modern equipment for pneumatic controllers and compressors to lower methane and VOC emissions. While the EPA estimates these rules will reduce methane emissions by 0.9 to 1.6 million tons per year, the author argues the rules are insufficient because they fail to directly regulate methane, include implementation delays, and ignore significant sources such as well clean-up, fracked oil wells, and existing infrastructure leaks.

• The EPA's new standards require gas producers to use 'Reduced Emissions Completion' (REC), or 'Green Completion' technology, for wells completed after January 1, 2015, to capture natural gas instead of venting or flaring it. This requirement applies to all wells except exploration (wildcat) and low-pressure wells, such as coal-bed methane wells.
• The EPA estimates the new rules will reduce methane emissions by between 0.9 and 1.6 million tons per year, with the lower figure being the best estimate based on the current voluntary use of REC in states without such requirements.
• Beyond REC, the rules mandate modern equipment for pneumatic controllers, compressors, and storage tanks to reduce leaks. Pneumatic controller updates are expected to save 91,000 tons of methane, 25,000 tons of VOC, and nearly 1,000 tons of toxic organic compounds annually, while compressor updates should save 8,100 tons of methane, 1,700 tons of VOC, and 65 tons of toxics per year.
• The document identifies several critical regulatory gaps: the rules do not directly regulate methane, they include delays of one to 2.5 years for key requirements, and they fail to address emissions from well clean-up, fracked oil wells (specifically flaring in the Bakken Shale Oil formation in North Dakota), and existing infrastructure leaks.

APA

McCabe, D. (n.d.). EPA’s New Standards for Oil & Gas: What They Do, and Don’t Do. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093434/20120430-CATF_EPA_Gas_Rule-Fact_Sheet_and_Analysis.pdf

Chicago

McCabe, David. EPA’s New Standards for Oil & Gas: What They Do, and Don’t Do. Clean Air Task Force, n.d. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093434/20120430-CATF_EPA_Gas_Rule-Fact_Sheet_and_Analysis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=McCabe |first1=David |title=EPA’s New Standards for Oil & Gas: What They Do, and Don’t Do |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093434/20120430-CATF_EPA_Gas_Rule-Fact_Sheet_and_Analysis.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mccabendepas, author = {McCabe, David}, title = {{EPA’s New Standards for Oil \& Gas: What They Do, and Don’t Do}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/21093434/20120430-CATF_EPA_Gas_Rule-Fact_Sheet_and_Analysis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }