Make Your Voice Heard: ROLLBACK OF AIR POLLUTION STANDARDS — OIL AND GAS SECTOR 

Comment by August 9

The Trump Administration wants to delay and weaken emission controls that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and asthma-inducing smog.  The public comment period is ongoing; comments must be received on or before 11:59 pm August 9.

Summary

EPA has proposed to delay key elements of methane air quality emissions standards for the oil and gas sector.  These air quality standards would protect public health while reducing greenhouse gas emission. Methane is a “super-pollutant” with a global warming potential more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide.1

Methane also contributes to ozone in our breathing zone (ground-level ozone, or “smog”).  Exposure to ozone is linked to a wide range of health effects, including severe asthma attacks, increased emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and premature death.

The oil and gas sector is the country’s largest emitter of methane. Many kinds of equipment used in the oil and gas sector leak methane. The oil and gas industry is the largest industrial source of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a group of chemicals that also contribute to ground-level ozone (smog). In addition to forming smog, many VOCs are also toxic to humans.

EPA finalized air quality standards to control methane and VOC emissions from the oil and gas sector in May 2016. The Trump Administration wants to stop EPA and the States from implementing these methane pollution controls while it rolls back the air quality standards for methane emissions.

EPA will accept comments on the proposals until August 9, 2017.  For information on the rule, the rollback proposal, and how to comment, go to Methane Rule.

1 thought on “Make Your Voice Heard: ROLLBACK OF AIR POLLUTION STANDARDS — OIL AND GAS SECTOR ”

  1. Please, listen to the science, read all the data, don’t just look at your bank balance. It is so blatantly obvious that this has nothing to do with creating jobs, there are more job opportunities in other fields, including green energy. ALEC and big oil lobbyists should not be making the decisions, this kind of decision making will destroy the climate, our national security, our health, our beautiful nation, and our economy in the near future. I don’t want to see the U.S. looking like China, they have realized what they have done and are scrambling to fix it, why drag us thru that?

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Save EPA has been an all-volunteer group of former EPA officials who became alarmed about the Trump agenda for EPA and joined together to fight it.

With newly-elected President-Elect Biden and VP-Elect Harris coming in January, the need to "save EPA" is much less urgent. This is not to imply all clear skies ahead - there is much re-building to do, there will be negative pressures on the new administration, and we will likely have policy differences in the future. However, we are hopeful that these differences will be discussed rationally, using science as a basis for moving forward, and keeping EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment in the forefront.

And so, we are going back to retirement!  We're keeping our website up at http://saveepaalums.info/ , as a resource for those who want to follow and influence the restoration work. Our report on the Trump record at EPA describes the actions that need to be reversed [saveepaalums.info/Trump+era+report], and our guide to participating in the rulemaking process [http://saveepaalums.info/Resistance+Guide] can help you be part of the solution.

Thank you for your support and commitment during the past 3.5 years.  While the Trump assaults were unending, they were also frequently unsuccessful, and that was due in large part to public outrage.  Keep it up!  Although EPA will be in much better hands with a Biden administration, there is always a need for an informed and engaged public.