Testimony Before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

The document outlines a pathway to reduce U.S. oil and gas methane emissions by 65% using mature technologies and standards already employed in states like Colorado and New Mexico. It advocates for strengthening EPA regulations to include frequent leak detection and repair (LDAR) and a total ban on routine flaring. Additionally, it supports the Build Back Better Act's Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) as a complementary financial incentive. The author asserts that these measures would save society $13 billion annually by 2025, prevent millions of tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from entering the atmosphere, and create approximately 220,000 total jobs without negatively impacting drilling activity.

• The U.S. oil and natural gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the country, with CATF estimating actual emissions at approximately 12 million metric tons, which is higher than the over 8 million tons reported in the 2020 U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory due to the failure to capture 'super-emitters'.
• Implementing regulatory standards based on existing practices in leading states could reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry by 65 percent relative to 2012 levels.

APA

Smith, S. (2022). Testimony Before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/24121641/sarah-smith-testimony-house-select-committee-climate-crisis.pdf

Chicago

Smith, Sarah. Testimony Before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Clean Air Task Force, 2022. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/24121641/sarah-smith-testimony-house-select-committee-climate-crisis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Smith |first1=Sarah |title=Testimony Before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=24 June 2022 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/24121641/sarah-smith-testimony-house-select-committee-climate-crisis.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{smith2022testimony, author = {Smith, Sarah}, title = {{Testimony Before the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2022}, month = jun, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/24121641/sarah-smith-testimony-house-select-committee-climate-crisis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }