Clean Air Council Condemns EPA’s Dangerous Rollback of Methane Protections

PHILADELPHIA, PA (August 13th, 2020) – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its unlawful rollback of the 2016 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the oil and gas sector, directly contradicting EPA’s obligations under the Clean Air Act. The NSPS has been in full effect and successfully implemented for years now and has prevented millions of tons of methane, an extremely potent climate pollutant, from leaking into the atmosphere. The NSPS rollback has faced major opposition from the general public, scientists, health experts, and even major oil and gas companies, including Exxon Mobil and BP. Methane leaks at every phase across the oil and gas supply chain, and is responsible for about one quarter of the anthropogenic climate change we are experiencing today. 

In addition, other harmful pollutants, including known carcinogens such as benzene, leak alongside methane from oil and gas operations. The 2016 NSPS required natural gas drilling companies to perform routine, commonsense inspections and repair leaks at oil and gas facilities. EPA’s unlawful rollback reduces inspection frequency substantially despite no factual basis in the record for doing so. Indeed, the evidence is clear that frequent inspections are necessary to identify leaks, that doing so is cost-effective, and that inspections actually generate substantial savings for operators. 

Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council, issued the following statement:

“The Environmental Protection Agency’s dangerous and unlawful rollback of critical air quality standards, during a global pandemic no less, threatens the health and safety of every person in the U.S., and disproportionately Black and Brown communities. The entire approach is nonsensical, as EPA identifies no practical or administrative problems in enforcing these standards and no burden to industry in continuing to comply with them. It is simply mindless deregulation that leading oil and gas operators do not even want. These critical climate and health protections have been working successfully for years, and the Trump administration’s reckless rollback will be challenged in court immediately.”

Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability and Physicians for Social Responsibility agree the Administration’s removal of methane from the 2016 NSPS for oil and gas facilities is a dangerous step in the wrong direction:

Director of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability Christine Knapp:

“Mayor Kenney has been a champion in fighting against federal rollbacks that address climate change. He committed Philadelphia to meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement and signed the Mayor’s for 100% Renewable Energy pledge. In order to meet these goals, we need the support of the state and particularly the federal government. This is not the time to go backwards. These rollbacks take us further from meeting our goals and forces us to spend time and resources to fight against them. Federal standards for methane pollution from oil and gas facilities must remain intact if we are serious about mitigating the oppressive effects of climate change.”

Physicians for Social Responsibility Interim Director Dr. Walter Tsou

“If it can reach 100 degrees in Siberia, what will this summer look like in Philadelphia? Now add the COVID-19 pandemic and you have a recipe for disaster. Many of the most vulnerable have created brick oven-like conditions inside their homes. Pennsylvania is sadly a major contributor of greenhouse gas pollution through fracking in the Marcellus shale region of which covers two-thirds of the state. The chief component of fracked gas is methane, a greenhouse gas with 87 times more warming potential than carbon dioxide over the course of 20 years. Philadelphians need a strong standard for methane pollution from oil and gas facilities in order to avoid the dangerous effects of continued climate change. The current administration must abandon it’s unnecessary rollback of this vital public health protection.”