WASHINGTON: Biden Administration launched a broad plan to reduce methane emissions, target strong greenhouse gases that contribute significantly to global warming and package short-term punches than carbon dioxide.
The plan was announced on Tuesday as President Joe Biden wrapped the two-day appearance at the peak of the UN climate in Glasgow, Scotland.
Biden promised during the Summit to work with the European Union and other countries to reduce methane emissions overall throughout the world by 30% by 2030.
The US Action Center is a long-awaited government by the Environmental Protection Agency to tighten methane rules for Oil and.
The gas sector, as stoked in one of the first Biden executive commands.
The proposed rules will be for the first time targeting reductions from oil and gas wells that exist throughout the country, rather than just focusing on new wells because the previous rules have been carried out.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the new rules, established under clean air laws, will lead to significant reductions in methane emissions and other pollutants and will be tighter than the Obama-era standard set in 2016.
Congress restored Obama’s standard last summer A rare efforts by the majority of Democrats to use the legislative branch to reverse the regulation rollback under President Donald Trump.
“When global leaders convene at this important moment in Glasgow for COP26, now it is very clear that America returns and leads by giving an example in the face of a climate crisis with thick ambitions,” Regan said, referring to the climate summit.
“Historic actions” EPA will “ensure strong and lasting cuts in pollution throughout the country,” Regan said.
This new rule will protect the public near the oil and gas site and advance US climate objectives based on the 2015 Paris Agreement, he said.
The oil and gas industry is the source of the nation’s largest methane industry, a very strong pollutant that is responsible for about one third of warming today of human activities.
The oil and gas sector is also the main source of other harmful air pollutants, including volatile compounds that contribute to the basic level ozone, or smoke, and air poisons such as benzene emitted along with methane.
Environmental groups call the reduction in the fastest and most cost-effective methane action to slow down the rate of global warming.
The current rules for methane emissions from US oil and gas wells are only valid for sources built or modified after 2015, leaving more than 90% of almost 900,000 state well sites are not regulated.
The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobby group of the oil and gas industry, said it supports direct regulations of methane emissions from new sources and existing but against the efforts of Congress to impose costs for methane leakage, calling them punishment and unnecessary.
Industry said methane leaks, the main component of natural gas, has declined even because natural gas production has risen as a result of the ongoing boom fracking.
Technological progress in recent years has made finding and improving natural gas leakage cheaper and easier.
The administrative plan includes new safety regulations by the Ministry of Transportation to tighten the requirements regarding methane leakage from a pipe of 3 million miles from the pipe.
The interior department, meanwhile, is preparing to crack down on methane waste which is burned in a drilling place in public land.
And the Ministry of Agriculture works with farmers to determine what is called climate-smart standards to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon storage.
This plan focuses on cutting pollution from the largest source of methane emissions and using financial incentives, public disclosures, and private partnerships to reduce leakage and waste, protect workers and communities and create friendly unity jobs, said senior administrative officials on Monday.
.
The official asked not to be named because the person was not authorized to speak before the action was announced publicly.
Biden had previously announced plans to increase efforts to install leaked in old gas wells and cleaned the abandoned coal mine.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill approved by the Senate covers billions to regain the abandoned mine land and close the yatms.
The administration also targets methane emissions from landfills, with emphasis on loss of food and waste that functions as a major contributor.
EPA has set voluntary goals to capture 70% of methane emissions from the US final disposal site.
Joe Biden’s climate plan aims to reduce methane emissions
