The EPA’s proposed methane rule has been published in the Federal Register, and now the online comment website is finally open. They announced the rule Nov. 8 – almost a month ago!
This proposed rule is good for air pollution and climate change, and therefore good for our health. This rule is very strong. (It could be a bit stronger if it eliminated instead of reducing flaring.)
Here is what’s in it:
- Requires monitoring for methane emissions for ALL oil and gas wells, regardless of size or status. (smaller wells were previously exempt)
- Requires monitoring at production sites and compressor stations.
- Requires repairs within 30 days of identifying a leak.
- Creates a super-emitter response program for large or intermittent leaks of huge amounts of methane, which requires evaluation within 5 days and correction within 10 days.
- Reduces the need for flaring by recovering and rerouting the wasted methane into production lines. (It doesn’t eliminate flaring, just reduces it.)
Here is why this proposed rule is good for health and why we need it:
- Methane leaks and venting/flares waste gas, create air pollution, and seriously affect climate change. Many other kinds of air pollution also leak when methane leaks.
- Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide for the first 20 years it exists. Climate change is a serious health threat, with excessive temperatures, heat waves, storms, and wildfires causing health problems, loss of homes, and deaths. Doctors and health care providers are already seeing these health problems now.
- Reducing methane now will have major improvements in climate change in the next 10-20 years – it frontloads our response to climate change.
- Methane directly affects health: it can cause headaches, and it is one of the chemicals that help make ozone in the hot summer months. Ozone can cause asthma attacks, worsening emphysema, and affect your heart.
- When methane leaks, so do other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including benzene, which is a known carcinogen. These other VOCs can directly hurt health and they also make even more ozone. Fracking wells have recently been linked to increased risk of leukemia in children who live within 1.2 miles of a well.
There were also virtual public hearings which happened January 10-12. Read what Mothers & Others’ Dr. Anne said at the hearing.
12-08-2022
