Memo: Modeled impacts from EPA methane rollbacks

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) estimates that two EPA rollback proposals from 2018 and 2019 would increase 2025 emissions by 4.3 million metric tons of methane, 1 million metric tons of VOCs, and 38,000 metric tons of HAPs. The 2018 proposal focuses on reducing the frequency of leak detection and repair (LDAR) surveys, while the 2019 proposal seeks to remove regulations for the natural gas transmission and storage segment and eliminate methane standards for the entire sector, which would remove the EPA's obligation to regulate existing facilities. CATF's estimates are significantly higher than the EPA's because CATF accounts for emissions from existing sources and abnormal process conditions, both of which the EPA excludes. The near-term climate impact of the additional methane is compared to the carbon dioxide emissions of approximately 100 coal-fired power plants.

• The combined impact of the 2018 and 2019 EPA rollback proposals is projected to increase 2025 emissions by 4.3 million metric tons of methane, 1 million metric tons of volatile organic compounds (VOC), and 38,000 metric tons of hazardous air pollutants (HAP).
• The 2018 LDAR Revision proposal would decrease the required frequency of leak detection and repair surveys for well pads (from semi-annual to annual), gathering and boosting compressor stations (from quarterly to semi-annual), and transmission and storage compressor stations (from quarterly to semi-annual).
• The 2019 Methane / T&S Revision proposal would remove all regulations from the natural gas transmission and storage segment and eliminate methane emission standards for the entire oil and gas sector, thereby removing the EPA's legal obligation to issue standards for existing facilities.
• The additional methane emissions resulting from these rollbacks would have a near-term warming effect equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions produced by nearly 100 coal-fired power plants.
• CATF's emission estimates for the 2018 and 2019 revisions are substantially higher than the EPA's estimates; for the 2018 LDAR Revision, CATF estimates 980,000 metric tons of increased methane compared to the EPA's 69,000 metric tons.
• The discrepancy between CATF and EPA estimates is attributed to the EPA ignoring emissions abatement from existing sources and failing to include abnormal process condition emissions in its GHG Inventory, the latter of which increases baseline emissions by approximately 40%.

APA

Clean Air Task Force (2019). Memo: Modeled impacts from EPA methane rollbacks. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/21093010/CATF-EPA-rollback-memo.pdf

Chicago

Clean Air Task Force. Memo: Modeled impacts from EPA methane rollbacks. 2019. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/21093010/CATF-EPA-rollback-memo.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Clean Air Task Force |title=Memo: Modeled impacts from EPA methane rollbacks |date=November 2019 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/21093010/CATF-EPA-rollback-memo.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cleanairtaskforce2019memo, author = {{Clean Air Task Force}}, title = {{Memo: Modeled impacts from EPA methane rollbacks}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/21093010/CATF-EPA-rollback-memo.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }