(AGENPARL) – mar 12 novembre 2024 Issued: Nov 12, 2024 (5:00am EST)
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EPA Finalizes Rule to Reduce Wasteful Methane Emissions and Drive Innovation
in the Oil and Gas Sector
As global leaders gather in Baku for COP29, EPA delivers latest action under
President Biden’s Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan
WASHINGTON — Today, Nov. 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced a final rule to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas
sector. The rule facilitates implementation of Congress’s directive in the
Inflation Reduction Act to collect a Waste Emissions Charge to better ensure
valuable natural gas reaches the market rather than polluting the air.
Congress established the charge on large emitters of methane if their
emissions exceed specific performance levels and directed EPA to collect the
charge and implement other features of the program, including providing
appropriate exemptions for actions that reduce methane releases. Today’s
final rule delivers on this directive and incentivizes companies to take
near-term action to conserve valuable energy resources for American consumers
and reduce methane emissions – a potent greenhouse gas that is responsible
for approximately one-third of the global warming we are experiencing today.
  
“The final Waste Emissions Charge is the latest in a series of actions under
President Biden’s methane strategy to improve efficiency in the oil and gas
sector, support American jobs, protect clean air, and reinforce U.S.
leadership on the global stage,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.
“EPA has been engaging with industry, states, and communities to reduce
methane emissions so that natural gas ultimately makes it to consumers as
usable fuel — instead of as a harmful greenhouse gas. Along with EPA’s
complementary set of technology standards and historic financial and technical
resources under the Inflation Reduction Act, today’s action ensures that
America continues to lead in deploying technologies and innovations that lower
our emissions.”
EPA estimates that this rule alone will result in cumulative emissions
reductions of 1.2 million metric tons of methane (34 million metric tons
CO2-equivalent) through 2035 — the equivalent of taking nearly 8 million
gas-powered cars off the road for a year — and will have cumulative climate
benefits of up to $2 billion.
As directed by Congress, the Waste Emissions Charge applies only to waste
emissions from high-emitting oil and gas facilities. The Inflation Reduction
Act provides that the Waste Emissions Charge applies to methane from certain
oil and gas facilities that report emissions of more than 25,000 metric tons
of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program,
beginning with methane emissions reported in calendar year 2024. Also, as
directed by Congress, the Waste Emissions Charge starts at $900 per metric ton
of wasteful emissions in CY 2024, increasing to $1,200 for CY 2025, and $1,500
for CY 2026 and beyond, and only applies to emissions that exceed statutorily
specified methane intensity levels.
EPA’s final rule details how the charge will be implemented, including the
calculation of the charge and how exemptions from the charge will be applied.
Facilities in compliance with the recently finalized Clean Air Act standards
for oil and gas operations would be exempt from the charge after certain
criteria set by Congress are met. The agency expects that over time, fewer
facilities will face the charge as they reduce their emissions and become
eligible for this regulatory compliance exemption.
In keeping with the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Waste
Emissions Charge works in concert both with Clean Air Act standards issued in
March 2024 to limit methane from new and existing oil and gas operations, and
with over $1 billion in financial and technical assistance that EPA has
partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy to provide under the Inflation
Reduction Act to support monitoring and mitigation of methane emissions from
the oil and gas sector. Combined, these actions will help position the United
States as the most efficient producer of oil and natural gas in the world and
ensure that the industry remains competitive in overseas markets that require
a minimum level of emissions performance.
In the final rule, EPA made changes in response to public comments that will
provide owners and operators of oil and natural gas facilities with greater
flexibility to achieve emission reductions and thereby avoid the charge.
States now have a stronger incentive to submit satisfactory plans for limiting
methane from existing oil and gas operations in a timely manner. Additionally,
the Waste Emissions Charge will apply until oil and gas operators achieve full
compliance with state plans, helping to incentivize better performance. The
final rule also provides additional clarity on exemptions and other provisions
of the rule.
Background
Methane is a climate “super pollutant” — over 100 years, one ton of
emitted methane traps 28 times as much heat in the Earth system as one ton of
emitted carbon dioxide. The oil and natural gas sector is the largest
industrial source of methane emissions in the United States. Rapid reductions
in methane emissions are 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. Because methane in the atmosphere leads to the
production of ozone, reducing methane emissions reduces ozone levels and
protects public health.
The Waste Emissions Charge is a key component of EPA efforts to reduce
domestic methane emissions. In March 2024, EPA issued final standards under
the Clean Air Act to sharply reduce methane emissions and other harmful air
pollution from new and existing oil and gas operations. In the Inflation
Reduction Act, Congress built a framework of additional measures under the
Methane Emissions Reduction Program — including the Waste Emissions Charge
and funding for financial and technical assistance — to complement EPA’s
final standards and ensure reductions in methane from this sector. These
measures incentivize affected facilities to reduce emissions in advance of
compliance requirements under the oil and gas standards.
As directed by Congress in the IRA, the Waste Emissions Charge is calculated
with the input of data reported to EPA under subpart W of the Greenhouse Gas
Reporting Program. In May 2024 EPA published a final rule (pdf) revising
subpart W to increase the accuracy of reported methane emissions from the oil
and natural gas industry.
In addition to creating the Waste Emissions Charge, the Inflation Reduction
Act provides more than $1 billion to help monitor, measure, quantify, and
reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Through the Methane
Emissions Reduction Program, EPA is partnering with DOE to provide financial
and technical assistance to promote the adoption of available and innovative
technologies — including funds to mitigate emissions at low-producing
conventional wells and other oil and gas infrastructure, to support methane
monitoring and measurement nationwide, and to provide transparent emissions
data to impacted communities.
The Waste Emissions Charge and MERP’s funding opportunities, together with
EPA’s standards under the Clean Air Act, will advance the adoption of
cost-effective technologies, reduce wasteful practices, and yield significant
economic and environmental benefits, while driving continued innovation in
methane detection, monitoring, and mitigation techniques.
For more information, please visit the Methane Emissions Reduction Program
website.
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