Good Rules, Good Jobs: Employment Opportunities From Emissions Standards for Oil and Gas

The report finds that strong methane standards in the U.S. oil and gas sector would create significant employment without negatively impacting drilling activity. The CATF 65% plan is projected to create nearly 220,000 total jobs (including 64,000 direct jobs), while the EPA proposal would create 92,000 total jobs (including 27,000 direct jobs). These jobs span manufacturing, installation, and ongoing operations and maintenance, with a significant portion being non-offshorable and potentially unionized.

• The CATF 65% methane reduction plan would generate significantly more employment than the EPA proposal, resulting in nearly 220,000 total jobs compared to 92,000 for the EPA proposal, a difference of 120,000 jobs.
• Direct job creation varies between the two plans: the CATF 65% plan would result in nearly 64,000 direct jobs, whereas the EPA proposal would create over 27,000 direct jobs.
• The employment benefits are split roughly equally between upfront capital investments and ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M). For the CATF plan, this includes 35,000 capital jobs and 29,000 O&M jobs; for the EPA proposal, it includes 17,000 capital jobs and 10,000 O&M jobs.
• The primary drivers of the job difference between the two proposals are the varying levels of stringency regarding storage tank controls and leak detection and repair (LDAR).
• Methane standards are not expected to reduce oil and gas industry jobs or drilling activity, as data from Colorado, Oklahoma, and North Dakota show that rig counts follow oil prices rather than the presence of protective methane rules.
• The economic cost of implementing these standards is minimal relative to gas prices, estimated at 14 cents per mcf for the CATF 65% plan and 8 cents per mcf for the EPA proposal, representing roughly 1-2% of the August 2022 average wholesale gas price of $8.81.
• Many of the created jobs are considered high-quality and non-offshorable because they require U.S.-based workers for installation, maintenance, and inspections. At least 10% of these jobs are estimated to be union jobs.

APA

Feldman, L., McCabe, D., & Flores, J. (2022). Good Rules, Good Jobs: Employment Opportunities From Emissions Standards for Oil and Gas. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/04105136/CATF_OilGasJobsReport-1.pdf

Chicago

Feldman, Lesley, David McCabe, and Joshua Flores. Good Rules, Good Jobs: Employment Opportunities From Emissions Standards for Oil and Gas. Clean Air Task Force, 2022. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/04105136/CATF_OilGasJobsReport-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Feldman |first1=Lesley |last2=McCabe |first2=David |last3=Flores |first3=Joshua |title=Good Rules, Good Jobs: Employment Opportunities From Emissions Standards for Oil and Gas |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=September 2022 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/04105136/CATF_OilGasJobsReport-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{feldman2022good, author = {Feldman, Lesley and McCabe, David and Flores, Joshua}, title = {{Good Rules, Good Jobs: Employment Opportunities From Emissions Standards for Oil and Gas}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/04105136/CATF_OilGasJobsReport-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }