For the oil and gas industry, cutting emissions of one of the most potent greenhouse gases was supposed to be relatively straightforward.
But last week Congress voted to roll back the “methane fee,” a penalty on excess methane emissions passed during the Biden administration. The decision removed what was supposed to be an incentive for polluters to reduce their environmental impact, though the fee had not yet gone into effect.
And the move comes amid efforts across the Trump administration to roll back environmental regulations and boost fossil fuel production, which, in turn, could lead to the release of more methane.
Methane is considered a “superpollutant” because it can trap around 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide can in the short term, and it’s responsible for about a third of the global temperature rise since the preindustrial era.
A big chunk of global methane emissions caused by human activity comes from the energy sector, where methane is released during the production and transportation of fossil fuels.
Over the last few years, cutting back on energy-sector methane has become a focal point for policymakers looking for the cheapest, fastest and easiest ways to reduce emissions globally. New satellites and cameras can quickly and accurately locate large emissions events, and fixing the problem is sometimes as simple as twisting a knob on a valve.
“It is the single fastest way to reduce temperature in the short term,” said Marcelo Mena, chief executive of the Global Methane Hub, an organization that funds reduction efforts.
Mena said that nearly half of all emissions reductions in the oil and gas sector could be realized at little or no cost to operators, because efforts to plug leaks could pay for themselves.
Understanding the “methane fee”
As part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, Congress established a fee that would charge big energy companies $900 per ton of methane emissions past a certain threshold. The idea was that producers would take pains to reduce emissions and avoid paying for any overages. The fee was set to rise to $1,500 per ton by 2026.
The Biden administration finalized the measure late last year, but last week Congress voted to rescind the rule. President Trump is expected to sign the measure.
Eliminating the fee was a priority for fossil fuel lobby groups and the Trump administration. Six House Democrats joined Republicans in voting to repeal it, and the Republican-controlled Senate voted along party lines.
The E.P.A. estimated that the methane fee would have led to emissions reductions of 1.2 million tons of methane over the next 10 years, roughly equivalent to removing 8 million gas-powered cars from the road for one year.
The methane problem
In the last couple of years, environmental groups and energy companies have escalated efforts to figure out exactly how much methane is entering the atmosphere, and from where. The 770-pound satellite MethaneSAT, for example, was launched last year to orbit the earth once every 96 minutes and monitor more than 80 percent of global oil and gas production.
These efforts revealed that oil and gas operations were releasing far more methane than previously estimated. Emissions in the U.S. have continued to rise. Worldwide, methane concentrations in the atmosphere hit a record high in 2023. (Methane is also emitted by wetlands and agricultural activities.)
The new detection technologies have also made it easier to spot and fix problems. According to a December analysis of aerial survey data by S&P Global Commodity Insights, methane emissions from active wells in the Permian Basin, a large oil field in Texas and New Mexico, fell by 26 percent in 2023. As natural gas production increased there, emissions per unit of output, a metric known as emissions intensity, fell by about a third in the same period.
What happens now?
Even though the U.S. methane fee has been rescinded, Mena said that energy companies will eventually be forced to meet stringent European Union emissions standards set to take effect in a few years if they want to export natural gas there.
The U.S. is already the world’s largest natural gas supplier, and the Trump administration has promised to “unleash” American energy through production-friendly measures like fast-tracking new projects.
In the meantime, Mena expects to see independent satellite operators publicizing details about the methane leaks they find in hopes of galvanizing local action. His organization is working with local nongovernmental organizations to overlay emissions maps with health data.
“It’s a really great way to empower communities to see the pollution they’re being subject to,” Mena said.
The Trump tariffs are here
Last month, we examined how President Trump’s tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada would affect efforts to address climate change. Many of the levies were paused at the last minute.
But as of today, Trump’s trade war is officially on.
That means that goods like oil from Canada and components for electric vehicles made in China are now more expensive for American importers. Electricity produced in Canada that flows into the American grid is also subject to the tariffs. Together, these moves alone are likely to raise prices at the pump as well as heating and energy costs for American consumers.
The cost of new cars, including electric vehicles, could jump as much as $12,000. And other key components of the clean energy supply chain, such as batteries and solar panels, just became more expensive.
China, Mexico and Canada are also starting to hit back. The United States is a major producer of natural gas, and already, U.S. exports are facing additional taxes from trading partners. — David Gelles
Trump administration said to drop lawsuit over toxic chemical
The Trump administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer accused of releasing high levels of a likely carcinogen from its Louisiana plant, according to two people familiar with the plans.
The government filed the lawsuit during the Biden administration after regulators determined that chloroprene emissions from the Denka Performance Elastomer plant were contributing to health concerns in an area with the highest cancer risk in the United States.
The Denka plant is in the predominantly Black community of LaPlace, La. The region is so dense with industrial facilities that it is known as “Cancer Alley.” — Lisa Friedman
More climate news:
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Over 1,000 people gathered outside of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building on Monday to protest the Trump administration’s layoffs at the agency, Reuters reports.
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There’s enough energy under the Earth’s surface to power all of the world’s energy needs, The New Yorker reports. But harnessing this geothermal energy safely is another matter.
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The Washington Post examines how China leaped ahead to become the world’s leader in electric vehicles.
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