File:Senate votes on methane - April 28, 2021.jpg

"The most important climate vote the Senate has ever cast"

• https://abq.news/2021/04/senate-rolls-back-trump-era-methane-rules/

The Senate passed (52-42) a resolution on Wednesday that would reinstate the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 methane pollution regulations for the oil and gas industry.

The measure was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich, and Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Ed Markey (D-MA). Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) introduced a companion resolution in the House.

Despite data showing large increases in methane emissions from oil and gas production in recent years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration completed a rollback of critical methane emissions regulations created during the Obama administration, weakening and in some cases eliminating altogether any requirements that oil and natural gas companies limit methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from their operations.

“In the wake of the Trump administration, there are very few Clean Air Act protections left in place to limit emissions of dangerous methane pollution from the production, processing, transmission and storage of oil and gas in the United States. As a greenhouse gas, methane has over 80 times the global warming potential as carbon dioxide in the short term. But even absent its consequences for climate change, methane leaks waste valuable energy resources and harm public health. When methane leaks from oil and gas wells, harmful carcinogens like benzene leak into the air alongside it. That means children are suffering more asthma attacks, and seniors are having trouble breathing,” said Sen. Heinrich.

The House is expected to vote on the methane pollution measure in two weeks.

"The most important climate vote the Senate has ever cast"

• https://abq.news/2021/04/senate-rolls-back-trump-era-methane-rules/

The Senate passed (52-42) a resolution on Wednesday that would reinstate the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 methane pollution regulations for the oil and gas industry.

The measure was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich, and Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Ed Markey (D-MA). Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) introduced a companion resolution in the House.

Despite data showing large increases in methane emissions from oil and gas production in recent years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration completed a rollback of critical methane emissions regulations created during the Obama administration, weakening and in some cases eliminating altogether any requirements that oil and natural gas companies limit methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from their operations.

“In the wake of the Trump administration, there are very few Clean Air Act protections left in place to limit emissions of dangerous methane pollution from the production, processing, transmission and storage of oil and gas in the United States. As a greenhouse gas, methane has over 80 times the global warming potential as carbon dioxide in the short term. But even absent its consequences for climate change, methane leaks waste valuable energy resources and harm public health. When methane leaks from oil and gas wells, harmful carcinogens like benzene leak into the air alongside it. That means children are suffering more asthma attacks, and seniors are having trouble breathing,” said Sen. Heinrich.

The House is expected to vote on the methane pollution measure in two weeks.

○