Trump Finalizes Polluter Methane Rule Giveaway

The Trump Administration has finalized their plan to weaken an existing methane rule that mandates companies to monitor and repair any methane leaks.  The revised rule would make it easier for companies to release methane into the air, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere.  This proposed rule would be the third major rollback on important air regulations.

“This action will directly result in more air pollution, hurting our lungs and adding to climate change impacts. They are once again siding with the oil and gas industry over public health and the environment with this weakening. The methane rule is important to protect our lungs and communities and it is shameful and reckless that Trump is siding with polluters in repealing it. Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. By stopping this important rule, we are losing regulations and real reductions from methane pollution from well heads to oil and gas pipelines to transmission lines,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “With this new methane rule, Donald Trump is saving money for the oil and gas industry at the expense of our public health and any chance of combating climate change.”

The new methane plan would require oil and gas drillers to conduct leak inspections only once a year instead of once every six months, as the 2016 rule currently requires. In addition, a company would be given 60 days to repair a leak rather than the current 30.

“We have to fight the Trump Administration from rolling back important methane rules at the expense of the public health. Methane leaks cause major climate impacts, while adversely affecting public health, like causing childhood asthma attacks, other respiratory ailments, and even premature death. For a state like New Jersey that has been devastated by climate change, reducing methane is even more important to help reduce the impact of sea level rise and flooding,” said Tittel.

The New Jersey Sierra Club is fighting pipeline projects including the PennEast Pipeline, the Garden State Expansion project which is compressor station that is meant to get gas from the proposed PennEast Pipeline and connect to the NJNG Southern Reliability Link Pipeline. The Southern Reliability Link is a 30 mile pipeline that would cut through Burlington, Ocean, and Monmouth Counties and runs through the Pinelands National Reserve.

“Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It is leaked during drilling and transportation of natural gas and crude oil. In New Jersey, leakage often occurs from oil and gas pipelines, compressor stations, and pipelines in the street. These standards also sought to protect public health by curbing emissions of smog-forming volatile organic compounds and carcinogens like benzene. Natural gas pipelines like PennEast are prone to leaks and are entering through the Delaware River region, posing a serious threat to our drinking water,” said Tittel. “Trump’s new methane rule would only add more destruction to our air and our lungs.”

Fourteen states along with 20 groups including the Sierra Club have filed lawsuits accusing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of failing to issue regulations for curbing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse pollutant, from existing oil and gas operations as required under the Clean Air Act.

“No matter what the Fossil Fool in the Whitehouse does, we will fight back. New Jersey must join the other 14 states in suing Trump over weakening the methane rule. We must stand up against Trump’s environmental attacks. When the government breaks its oath of office and public trust, the only choice we have is to go to court to uphold the law and protect the interests of the people of the United States,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Even though the Trump Administration has sold us out to his Big Oil by weakening the methane rule, we will fight and keep on fighting to protect our lungs and the planet we live on.”