On August 18, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released proposed regulations aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from oil and gas facilities. These first-ever proposed standards are a key part of a broader strategy, under the President’s Climate Action Plan, to cut methane emissions in the sector by 40% to 45% below 2012 levels in the next decade.

Building on its 2012 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for VOC emissions for the oil and natural gas industry, EPA’s proposed updates would require that the industry also reduce methane emissions. Sources already subject to the 2012 NSPS requirements for VOC reductions, which would also be covered by the proposed 2015 methane requirements, would not have to install additional controls, because the controls to reduce VOCs reduce both pollutants. Although the three-year-old mandates targeted VOCs at the sites, the approach cut methane emissions as a side benefit.

The new proposal would go further, requiring methane and VOC reductions from hydraulically fractured oil wells, too. And, the new plan would extend those emission-cutting requirements further downstream to natural gas transmission and processing equipment.
Continue Reading U.S. EPA Proposes New Rules to Curb Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Sector