E.P.A. to Lift Obama-Era Controls on Methane, a Potent Greenhouse Gas

[riversedge]

Source: nytimes


The reversal is the latest move in the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to weaken environmental rules, but it could be quickly undone after the November election.





By Coral Davenport

Aug. 10, 2020 Updated 4:58 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is expected in the coming days to lift Obama-era controls on the release of methane, a powerful climate-warming gas that is emitted from leaks and flares in oil and gas wells.

The new rule on methane pollution, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, has been expected for months, and will be made public before Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously to avoid publicly pre-empting the official announcement.

The rollback of the methane rule is the latest move in the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to weaken environmental standards, which has continued unabated during the coronavirus pandemic.

In April, the E.P.A. weakened rules on the release of toxic chemicals from coal-fired power plants, loosened curbs on climate-warming tailpipe pollution and opted not to strengthen a regulation on industrial soot emissions that have been linked to respiratory diseases, including Covid-19.

In July, President Trump unilaterally weakened one of the nation’s bedrock conservation laws, the National Environmental Policy Act, limiting public review of federal infrastructure projects in an effort to speed up the permitting process for freeways, power plants and pipelines...............................





?quality=90&auto=webp
A gas flare in Loving County, Texas. By some estimates, methane has 80 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide, though it dissipates faster.Credit...Angus Mordant/Reuters

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/climate/trump-methane-climate-change.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20200810&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=22098736&segment_id=35715&user_id=8cbf35c306e720c7e6384d1bf32ec141

---

I will once again call my senators and Rep!


.............Several of the biggest oil and gas companies have called on the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on methane, not loosen them. Larger energy companies have invested millions of dollars to promote natural gas as a cleaner option than coal in the nation’s power plants, because natural gas produces about half as much carbon dioxide when burned. They fear that unrestricted leaks of methane could undermine that marketing message and hurt demand.........................

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Demoralizing is a tactic ... don't give in ... fight on

Someday sane people will be in control again.

[calimary]

3. What The Fuck Is He DOING?????

What the fuck does he THINK he's doing? Or "accomplishing"???

Torpedoing the planet might also impact his precious daughter-wife, and his own grandchildren...

[machoneman]

4. WTFIHD? Owning the Libs!

[calimary]

10. He THINKS he's "owning the Libs."

He doesn't own THIS "Lib." I can tell you that right now.

[Evolve Dammit]

5. This just plain sucks and is shortening our planet's life and our existence. Insanity.

[The Mouth]

6. If Trump wins reelection the EPA is toast.

[walkingman]

7. I say this as a native Texan - If you think that Texas will ever curb fossil fuel pollution in lieu

of reduced profits versus the environment you are nuts. Common sense says that when you have "flaring" to burn off excess natural gas you would curb drilling but exactly the opposite is occurring. Nothing, repeat nothing will stop the greedy bastards from more fracking and drilling. The Texas Railroad Commission (who regulates the fossil fuel industry in Texas) is "owned" by the fossil fuel industry.

So not giving but but the reality is that it will not change....period.

[NickB79]

8. And just like that, my dream of growing palms in MN just got closer to reality

Great......

[noneof_theabove]

9. maybe derelict donnie

thinks that methane is used to make "meth".
You know mobsters take care of other mobsters.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Red Meat For The Base

The vast majority of "methane as waste product" producers have spent the capital & allocated overhead for recovery & capture a years ago.
The landfill by my town has a methane capture system.
The entire facility and the truck fleet all run on methane, including methane burners to generate steam turbines for their own electrical generators.
The energy costs saved & the "green" PR is too valuable to forfeit because PINO's mob decided it was fine to puke it into the air.
It's not going to help business, no business is really going to care, but the "government in a bathtub" types will love it.
It's not meaningful.

[flibbitygiblets]

12. Slow drip of demoralizing assholery

I can't wait for this nightmare to be over.

[Javaman]

13. Imagine a person with two different sized feet...

(I originally posted this way back in 2011)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=538

one is a normal sized foot and the other is enormously huge, grossly huge, freakishly huge.

Now imagine that person has to have to special shoes to be made. one for the normal foot and one for the over-sized cartoon foot.

Further imagine that person has had a long day and their feet are really tired. They decide to take off their shoes...in a crowded room. The first one this person takes off and drops on the floor has a curious name. This person named this normal sized shoe "Carbon".

And so it drops on the floor. Some people in the room were first bothered by the fact that this person chose to take off their shoes in a public place, but when this first shoe hit the floor, only a few concerned people noticed and politely said something to the offending shoe remover.

Now, the person is unlacing the second shoe. The bizarrely over-sized monster shoe. This shoe has a name as well, it's called, "Methane".

As the shoe wearing begins the slow process of untying the gigantic laces, not only are the first people who noticed the carbon shoe drop complaining, but other people, the less interested people have actually turned their head in the direction of the potentially life threatening social faux pas.

And when this shoe finally hits the ground, those who didn't complain, will complain the loudest.

[Vinca]

14. Trump must be in a panic. Only a few short months left to destroy the planet.