Trump Plans to Go Easier on the Bulk of Our Oil Wells

President Trump is preparing to dial back a key Biden-era effort to clamp down on methane leaks from oil and gas operations. Sources tell the New York Times and Bloomberg the president is expected to unveil the revised rules Tuesday at a Texas rally for GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton. The EPA proposal would ease monitoring and leak-prevention requirements for hundreds of thousands of low-producing "marginal" wells. These are ones that produce no more than 15 barrels a day, and while the Times notes they make up just 7% of US oil and gas production, the EPA has previously said they account for half of industry methane emissions. The country has about a million oil and gas wells, and 79% of them are marginal ones.

Critics have said the costs of implementing the emissions requirements would result in many of the wells being shut down altogether. The agency also plans to scrap a program that let third parties flag big leaks using satellites. EPA chief Lee Zeldin says loosening the rules could save producers $45 billion by 2050 and help keep energy prices in check. A strategist with the Natural Resources Defense Council counters, "Methane leaks are the dumbest kind of pollution because the industry is losing the very product it is selling." The Times reports methane "is responsible for nearly one-third of the rise in global temperatures since the start of the Industrial Revolution, and experts have said that reducing methane leaks is one of the fastest ways to slow global warming."