A group of Republican Senators sent a letter to the White House yesterday questioning the administration’s plans to begin regulating methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. While EDF welcomes their engagement, the Senators’ characterization of the problem, their representation of emissions data, and their reference to research funded by EDF are flatly incorrect.
The facts are these: Methane is a potent greenhouse gas—packing 84 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe. That means it’s a serious challenge, but also a huge opportunity to put the brakes on climate change quickly and cost-effectively. EPA’s latest inventory released in April estimates that in 2013, the oil and gas industry released more than 7.3 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere from their operations—a three percent increase over 2012—making it the largest industrial source of methane pollution. That’s enough to meet the needs of 5 million households, and packs the same short-term climate punch as the CO2 emissions from more than 160 coal-fired power plants. Read More