(AGENPARL) - Roma, 6 Maggio 2024 - (AGENPARL) – lun 06 maggio 2024 Issued: May 6, 2024 (3:16pm EDT)
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Final Rule to Cut Methane Emissions,
Strengthen and Update Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting for the Oil and Gas
Sector
Revisions to EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program authorized by Congress
will bring greater transparency and accountability for methane emissions from
oil and natural gas facilities, one of the major drivers of climate change
WASHINGTON – Today, May 6, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a
final rule to strengthen, expand, and update methane emissions reporting
requirements for petroleum and natural gas systems under EPA’s Greenhouse
Gas Reporting Program, as required by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction
Act. The final revisions will ensure greater transparency and accountability
for methane pollution from oil and natural gas facilities by improving the
accuracy of annual emissions reporting from these operations. Oil and natural
gas facilities are the nation’s largest industrial source of methane, a
climate “super pollutant” that is many times more potent than carbon
dioxide and is responsible for approximately one third of the warming from
greenhouse gases occurring today.
EPA’s latest action complements the Biden-Harris Administration’s
whole-of-government initiative to slash methane emissions from every sector of
the economy under the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Plan. In 2023 alone,
the Administration took nearly 100 actions, with coordination by the White
House Methane Task Force, to bolster methane detection and reduce methane
pollution from oil and gas operations, landfills, abandoned mines,
agriculture, industry, and buildings.
The final rule updating the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is a key
component of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Methane Emissions Reduction
Program, as designed by Congress to help states, industry, and communities
implement recently finalized Clean Air Act methane standards and slash methane
emissions from the oil and gas sector. The Biden-Harris Administration is also
mobilizing over $1 billion in financial and technical assistance to accelerate
the transition to no- and low- emitting oil and gas technologies, as part of
broad efforts to cut wasteful methane emissions.
“As we implement the historic climate programs under President Biden’s
Inflation Reduction Act, EPA is applying the latest tools, cutting edge
technology, and expertise to track and measure methane emissions from the oil
and gas industry,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Together, a
combination of strong standards, good monitoring and reporting, and historic
investments to cut methane pollution will ensure the U.S. leads in the global
transition to a clean energy economy.”
Recent studies reveal that actual emissions from petroleum and natural gas
systems are much greater than what has historically been reported to the
GHGRP. This rule addresses that gap, including by facilitating the use of
satellite data to identify super-emitters and quantify large emission events,
requiring direct monitoring of key emission sources, and updating the methods
for calculation. Together these changes support complete and accurate
reporting and respond to Congress’s directive for the measurement of methane
emissions to rely on empirical data.
Today’s announcement is EPA’s latest step in tackling methane emissions
that are fueling climate change, building on the agency’s recently finalized
Clean Air Act standards to sharply reduce methane and other harmful air
pollutants from the oil and natural gas industry, promote the use of
cutting-edge methane detection technologies, and deliver significant economic
and public health benefits from methane emissions reductions. That rule
established a Super-Emitter Program to help detect large leaks and releases,
and today’s reporting rule will require owners and operators to quantify and
report the emissions detected through that Program to help close the gap
between observed methane emissions and reported emissions.
The final subpart W rule will dramatically improve the quality of emissions
data reported from oil and natural gas operations, with provisions that
improve the quantification of methane emissions, incorporate advances in
methane emissions measurement technology, and streamline compliance with other
EPA regulations. For the first time, EPA is allowing for the use of advanced
technologies such as satellites to help quantify emissions in subpart W. In
addition, EPA is finalizing new methodologies that allow for the use of
empirical data for quantifying emissions, including options added in response
to public comments on the proposed rule. The final rule also allows for the
optional earlier use of empirical data calculation methodologies for
facilities that prefer to use them to quantify 2024 emissions. These changes
will improve transparency and expand the options for owners and operators to
submit empirical data to demonstrate their effort to reduce methane emissions
and identify whether a Waste Emissions Charge is owed, based on thresholds set
by Congress.
Advanced measurement technologies, and their use for annual quantification of
emissions, are evolving rapidly. EPA is committed to transparent and continual
improvements to its programs to account for these advancements while ensuring
reporting is accurate and complete. The agency intends to take the following
steps to gather further information about advanced measurement technologies
and to inform potential regulatory changes or other standard setting programs
that encourage the use of more accurate and comprehensive measurement
strategies:
This summer, EPA will solicit input on the use of advanced measurement data
and methods in subpart W by issuing a Request for Information and opening a
non-regulatory docket, including specific questions and topics on which EPA
seeks input from the public. EPA intends to use the feedback received to
consider whether it is appropriate to undertake further rulemaking addressing
the use of advanced measurement technologies in subpart W, beyond the role for
these technologies that is already provided in today’s rule.
EPA also seeks to continuously update its knowledge about new measurement and
detection technologies, and to elicit input from stakeholders and experts
about how such advances should inform EPA’s regulations. To keep pace with
this dynamic field, EPA plans to undertake a solicitation or engagement for
information about advanced measurement and detection technologies (in the form
of a Request for Information, workshop, or similar mechanism) on at least a
biennial basis. These engagements will enable EPA to learn about technological
advances and the extent to which there is robust information about their
accuracy, reliability, and appropriateness for use in a regulatory reporting
program.
For more information about this action, please visit the GHG Reporting Program
Rulemaking Resources webpage.
Background on the Methane Emissions Reduction Program in the Inflation
Reduction Act
Methane is a climate “super pollutant” that is more potent than carbon
dioxide and responsible for approximately one third of the warming from
greenhouse gases occurring today. The oil and natural gas sector is the
largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States. Quick
reduction of these methane emissions is one of the most important and
cost-effective actions the United States can take in the short term to slow
the rate of rapidly rising global temperatures.
EPA issued a final rule in December 2023 to sharply reduce methane emissions
and other harmful air pollution from new and existing oil and gas
operations.  In addition, EPA is working to implement the three-part
framework of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Methane Emissions Reduction
Program.
First, EPA is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to utilize
resources provided by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act to provide over
$1 billion dollars in financial and technical assistance to accelerate the
transition to technologies that reduce methane emissions and may  include
funds for activities associated with marginal (i.e., low-producing)
conventional wells, support for methane monitoring, and funding to help reduce
methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
Second, with today’s announcement, as directed by Congress, EPA is updating
subpart W of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program to ensure that reporting of
methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations is based on empirical
data and accurately reflects emissions.
Third, in January 2024 EPA proposed a rule to implement Congress’
requirement for a Waste Emissions Charge. To take advantage of near-term
opportunities for methane reductions while EPA and states work toward full
implementation of the final oil and gas rule, Congress directed EPA to collect
a charge on methane emissions from large oil and gas facilities that are
high-emitting and wasteful, based on data submitted under subpart W.
Background about Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program Requirements for Petroleum
and Natural Gas Sector
The GHGRP requires reporting of greenhouse gas data and other relevant
information from large GHG emission sources, fuel and industrial gas
suppliers, and CO2 injection sites in the United States. Approximately 8,000
facilities are required to report their emissions annually, and the reported
data are made available to the public in October of each year.
Under the GHGRP, owners or operators of facilities that contain petroleum and
natural gas systems and emit 25,000 metric tons or more of GHGs per year
(expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents) report GHG data to EPA. Owners or
operators collect GHG data; calculate GHG emissions; and follow the specified
procedures for quality assurance, missing data, recordkeeping, and reporting.
Subpart W consists of emission sources in ten segments of the petroleum and
natural gas industry.
Learn more about greenhouse gas reporting requirements for petroleum and
natural gas systems.
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