Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser today joined a multistate coalition in filing a motion to intervene in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to defend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Oil and Gas Methane Rule.
The EPA’s final rule strengthens regulation of methane emissions from new, modified, and reconstructed facilities in the oil and natural gas sector, and for the first time, regulates emissions from existing facilities in this sector. Twenty-six states, led by the attorneys general of Texas and Oklahoma, are suing to rollback these critical methane emissions standards for the oil and natural gas industry.
“Colorado worked hard, creatively, and collaboratively to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas development. The common-sense solutions forged in Colorado were supported by industry, government, and conservation groups as an effective means of ensuring responsible energy development and protecting air quality and public health. These protections must remain in place at the federal level for effective oversight of methane emissions from surrounding states; that’s why we are committed to defending the federal methane rule,” said Weiser.
Methane is a super pollutant up to 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat in the atmosphere. It is the major component of natural gas, a fossil fuel, and is emitted to the atmosphere during oil and gas production, processing, transmission, and storage. These processes make oil and natural gas the largest single industrial source of methane emissions in the U.S.
The coalition expresses strong support for the EPA’s final rule which will:
- Require all oil and gas well sites, centralized production facilities, and compressor stations to be routinely monitored for leaks;
- Phase out routine flaring of natural gas from new oil wells;
- Set emissions standards for certain pieces of equipment not previously covered by the 2016 rule;
- Allow owners and operators flexibility to utilize a variety of monitoring techniques;
- Set guidelines for states to follow as they develop plans for establishing, implementing, and enforcing emission standards; and
- Create a “super-emitter program” that leverages third-party expertise to find large leaks and releases.
In filing the motion, Weiser joins the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the motion can be found here.