U.S. clamps down on oil and gas firms releasing potent greenhouse gas

By Maxine Joselow, The Washington PostA drilling rig works on pulling pipe while plugging an abandoned oil well near Shelby, Mont., in June 2021.

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled plans for preventing methane leaks from oil and gas wells at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai in December. President Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, also requires oil and gas companies to pay the first-ever federal fee for each metric ton of methane they emit.

These practices have become prevalent on public and tribal lands across the country, federal data shows. Between 2010 and 2020, companies reported venting and flaring an average of about 44.2 billion cubic feet of gas per year — enough to meet the energy needs of roughly 675,000 homes, according to the Interior Department.

Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement that “taking action to limit methane waste on public lands offers a win-win-win for taxpayers, producers and communities harmed by this waste and associated pollution.” The Obama administration first tried to curb methane waste on public lands in 2016, unveiling a rule that required companies to capture leaked gas. But the Trump administration eased these requirements in 2018, saying they were stifling domestic energy production.

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