Photo by Kayla Velasquez on Unsplash

By the Allegheny Sierran staff

Apparently, the earth is not getting hot enough fast enough to suit Donald Trump.
--On August 29, the Trump administration announced plans to roll back regulation of methane emissions. According to the New York Times, the proposed rule would "eliminate requirement that oil and gas companies install technology to detect and fix methane leaks wells, pipelines and storage facilities." The new rule would also "reopen the question of whether the EPA had the authority to regulate methane as a pollutant."

The Trump Administration's action in this matter as a bit surprising given that major energy companies--including BP, Shell, and EXXON-Mobil--have opposed other administration initiatives to dismantle climate-change and environmental rules. In fact, the CEOs of the US divisions of both BP and Shell have gone on record as opposing elimination of EPA methane regulations.

While carbon dioxide is the most significant greenhouse gas, methane is a close second and can wield as much as 80 times the heat-trapping power of CO2 in the first 20 years of its presence in the atmosphere.

It is to be expected that the proposed rule change will be challenged in the courts by environmental organizations.