COP26, the international climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland is over. There was much political maneuvering over clean energy, energy efficiency, and CO2 emissions. However, Climate Change is more than CO2 emissions and CO2 sinks. President Joe Biden announced several new policies with the goal of reducing US emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that – depending on the averaging time – is 21 to 86 times more potent than CO2. Methane accounts for only 16% of global GHG emissions but is responsible for almost one-third of human-caused warming.
On November 2, the US EPA proposed new NSPS standards to reduce methane emissions from the oil & gas industry (https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-industry/epa-proposes-new-source-performance), aiming to cut their methane emissions to one-quarter of 2005 levels by the end of this decade. Here is background information about the rule. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/02/fact-sheet-president-biden-tackles-methane-emissions-spurs-innovations-and-supports-sustainable-agriculture-to-build-a-clean-energy-economy-and-create-jobs/
The new methane rule is groundbreaking because, if approved, it will apply to hundreds of thousands of previously unregulated emission sources, like isolated wells, storage tanks, and compressor stations. This rule is different from most other US EPA rules of its over five decades of existence because this rule would apply to existing and new sources alike. Historically, the vast majority of federal rules regulated only new facilities, while grandfathering existing ones from new emission limits. This is different.
Back when the US EPA was formed and began passing regulations, grandfathering was acceptable as a compromise between environmentalists and industries regulated. Companies did not have to upgrade huge numbers of equipment at once, while the thought was that in time, old equipment will age and be replaced by modern, lower-emitting units. However, being exempt from stringent emission limits gave companies the incentive to keep old, dirty equipment in place, even in some cases, past their useful lives. As a result, grandfathering not only discouraged US industry from modernizing, but also kept emission rates artificially high for some time impacting Clean Air Act goals.
Removing grandfathering is particularly important in the oil & gas industry as oil and gas wells continue to emit pollutants after they stop operating. Requiring old wells to meet new, stringent limits will reduce pollution many years and decades in the future.
In addition, the US EPA just approved a new rule reducing total HFC emissions, involving credits. HFCs, a class of refrigerants, are tens of thousand to hundreds of thousands of times more potent for global warming than CO2. We will have an article about the new rule and its implications next month.
CCES has the experts to help you understand and comply with GHG emission limits and regulations, for CO2, for methane, and for other compounds. We can do so without impacting operations and in an economically-beneficial way. Contact us today for more information at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.