The comment period for EPA’s proposed methane pollution standard for new and modified sources in the oil and gas industry closed last Friday, December 4th with 850,000 comments submitted in support of the rule. Millions of metric tons of methane, the primary component of natural gas, are leaked, vented, and flared throughout the oil and gas supply chain every year. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas that, on a 20-year timescale, is 87 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. EPA’s standard, proposed August 18th, is an important first step in reducing these emissions and part of the administration’s strategy to cut methane emissions by 40-45% by 2025.
Over 30 different groups representing a range of constituencies -- labor, faith, environmentalists, health -- generated the 850K comments. This broad public support for these rules was demonstrated across the country last week, including events in New Mexico, Ohio, and EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
A number of letters were also submitted into EPA’s comment period docket in support of the rule, including letters signed by 617 health professionals from all 50 states and DC, 18 Latino organizations, 125 grassroots groups, 14 Colorado County Commissioners, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, the American Sustainable Business Council, and Environmental Entrepreneurs.
In Ohio, over 78,000 citizens submitted comments to the EPA in support of the proposed rule. Representatives from the Ohio Environmental Council, Moms Clean Air Force, BlueGreen Alliance, and Sierra Club met with Mansfield city council member Don Bryant to demonstrate their support for the common-sense measures from EPA.
In New Mexico, a coalition of groups from around the state -- including Sierra Club - Rio Grande Chapter, Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund, 350 NM, NM Interfaith Power & Light, Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce, Western Environmental Law Center, Earthworks, Environmental Defense Fund -- submitted more than 26,000 comments from New Mexicans in support of the Obama Administration safeguards. Alex Renirie and Camilla Feibelman of the Sierra Club held a press conference call with Victoria Gutierrez of Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and Tweeti Blancett, a sixth-generation New Mexico rancher, owner of The Step Back Inn in Aztec, and a former state legislator.
These comments from Ohio and New Mexico, as well as from across the rest of the country, were hand-delivered to Micah Ragland from the EPA’s Office of Public Engagement at an event outside of their headquarters in Washington, D.C. About 50 people representing 20 organizations braved the cold D.C. weather to submit their comments.
After the event outside, the coalition was able to personally deliver the support inside the EPA. Representatives of several groups met with Janet McCabe, Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, to discuss the proposed rule and convey their support for EPA’s efforts to tackle methane emissions from oil and gas. In this meeting, Clean Water Action delivered thousands of handwritten letters thanking EPA for moving forward with regulating methane emissions.
While the EPA’s efforts to develop methane standards for new and modified sources is a good and necessary first step, the agency must begin work to address existing sources of methane pollution. By 2018, nearly 90% of all methane emissions in the oil and gas sector will come from sources that were in existence in 2011, and therefore will not be covered under the proposed regulations. We cannot truly tackle climate change or protect communities living with the impacts of existing oil and gas development unless EPA addresses existing sources from the oil and gas sector.
This comment period demonstrated the strong public support and excitement for limiting methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. We look forward to continuing to demonstrate broad public support for the administration’s efforts to tackle dangerous methane pollution.