The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a standard to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
With this new regulation, will sanction large emittersif certain levels are exceeded, a directive very similar to that which the European Union has to decide from which countries will import oil if they respect the established parameters.
In a statement, the EPA said the new directive aims to encourage companies to take short-term measures reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for around a third of global warming.
Collection of emissions
The standard facilitates the implementation of the Congressional directive in the Inflation Reduction Act and, to this end, will charge a tax for waste emissions to ensure that this natural gas reaches the market instead of polluting the air.
Congress sets a fee for large methane emitters if their emissions exceed specific performance levels and orders EPA to collect fees and implement other elements of the program, including providing appropriate exemptions for actions that reduce emissions of this gas.
“The final waste emissions tax is the latest in a series of actions under President (Joe) Biden’s methane strategy, to improve the efficiency of the oil and gas sectorsupporting American jobs, protecting clean air, and strengthening American leadership on the global stage,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.
Only for gas and fuel oil
The EPA estimates that this rule alone will result in a cumulative emissions reduction of 1.2 million tons of methane (34 million tons of CO₂) through 2035, the equivalent of removing nearly 8 million thermal cars from circulation for a year and will have cumulative climate benefits of up to $2 billion.
Per Congressional mandate, the waste emissions tax applies only to waste emissions from high-emission oil and gas installations.
The Inflation Reduction Act establishes that the waste emissions tax applies to methane from certain oil and gas facilities that will emit more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2024.
$1,500 per metric ton
Additionally, as required by Congress, the waste emissions tax starts at $900 per ton of unnecessary emissions in 2024 and increases to $1,200 per year in 2025 and $1,500 in 2026 and beyond.
EPA’s final rule details how the fees will be implemented, the calculation of the fees, and how exemptions will be applied. Facilities complying with the standards of the Clean Air Act for oil and gas operations would be exempt from these fees once certain criteria established by Congress are met.
Like in Europe
In March 2024, Parliament approved a provisional political agreement with EU countries on a new law to reduce methane emissions from the energy sectorwith 530 votes for, 63 against and 28 abstentions.
This new regulation is the first EU legislation aimed at reduce methane emissions and covers direct emissions from the oil, fossil gas and coal sectors, as well as biomethane once injected into the gas network.
Methane, a dangerous gas
Methane (CH4) is one of the main and most potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) accelerating climate change. It is estimated that it is responsible for 30% of the increase in global average temperature since the start of the industrial revolutionbeing the second gas that has contributed the most to climate change after CO₂.
The European agreement will require the fossil gas, oil and coal industries to adequately measure, monitor, report and verify their methane emissions.in accordance with the strictest control standards, and to take measures to reduce them.
According to article 1, the regulation applies to companies of gas and oil throughout the value chain (exploration, production, processing, transportation and distribution), to the operators of the coal mines active and abandoned.
Spy satellite
A few weeks ago, it was announced that it was now possible to measure methane emissions via the Tanager-1 satellite with a NASA instrument. The artifact has already detected significant columns of methane and carbon dioxide in countries and regions of the planetsurveillance that tracks who is polluting, how much and where with highly reliable precision.
And, most interestingly, the data will be open to the public, a transparent way to know who is polluting and continue reducing emissions responsible for climate change.
Imaging spectrometer
This is work promoted by the NGO Carbon Mapper, which published the first detections of methane and carbon dioxide provided by the Tanager-1 satellite based on data from an imaging spectrometer designed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratoryas reported by the space agency in a press release.
And what is important about this satellite work and its open data is that it opens the door to knowing the countries and the oil, gas or other exploitations that emit these gases, which the European Union will begin to to watch. import fossil fuels.
