The Trump Administration on Sept. 18 rolled back an Obama-era rule on emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from oil and gas operations on public lands in its latest step to ease regulations on the industry.
The so-called Waste Prevention Rule was aimed at reducing leaks of natural gas, or methane, that occur through venting and flaring during oil and gas production on federal land.
David Bernhardt, the Interior Department's deputy secretary, said revisions to the rule reflect President Donald Trump's policy avoiding "regulatory burdens that unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain growth and prevent job creation."
RELATED: Headlines: EPA Takes Aim At Obama-Era Methane Rule
Environmentalists slammed the rollback of the rule, which will not be implemented until after a 60-day comment period.
"The Trump administration is relentless in its push to give the oil and gas industry multi-million-dollar handouts at the expense of Americans' health and environment," said David Doniger, the Natural Resource Defense Council's senior strategic director for climate and clean energy.
Revisions to the Obama-era plan include changes to the percentage of methane that must be captured at drilling locations and measures on well completions and leak detections, the department said.
The Obama administration had said that venting of methane cost taxpayers over $330 million a year in lost revenue from natural gas.
But industry complained that the Waste Prevention Rule would be costly on public lands, where 5% of U.S. oil and 9% of U.S. gas is produced, and that states with public lands already had their own regulations on the emissions. The rule was challenged in court by the industry and some states, including Wyoming.
The Interior Department said the Obama-era rule would have had a net cost of $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion over 10 years. The Trump administration's revisions would save drillers about $734 million to $1 billion over 10 years, and lead to more royalty payments that benefit the public, the department said.
Last week, Trump's Environmental Protection Agency proposed weakening requirements for testing and repairing methane leaks in drilling operations, the latest step toward rolling back Obama-era regulations to combat climate change.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has sued the administration over delays in implementation of the Obama-era rules, said his state will do "everything in our power to hold them accountable to our people and planet."
Recommended Reading
Deepwater Roundup 2024: Offshore Australasia, Surrounding Areas
2024-04-09 - Projects in Australia and Asia are progressing in part two of Hart Energy's 2024 Deepwater Roundup. Deepwater projects in Vietnam and Australia look to yield high reserves, while a project offshore Malaysia looks to will be developed by an solar panel powered FPSO.
Exclusive: Carbo Sees Strong Future Amid Changing Energy Landscape
2024-03-15 - As Carbo Ceramics celebrates its 45th anniversary as a solutions provider, Senior Vice President Max Nikolaev details the company's five year plan and how it is handling the changing energy landscape in this Hart Energy Exclusive.
TotalEnergies Starts Production at Akpo West Offshore Nigeria
2024-02-07 - Subsea tieback expected to add 14,000 bbl/d of condensate by mid-year, and up to 4 MMcm/d of gas by 2028.
CNOOC’s Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 Starts Production Offshore China
2024-02-05 - CNOOC plans 118 development wells in the shallow water project in the Bohai Sea — the largest secondary development and adjustment project offshore China.
Equinor Receives Significant Discovery License from C-NLOPB
2024-02-02 - C-NLOPB estimates recoverable reserves from Equinor’s Cambriol discovery at 340 MMbbl.