The US will economically penalize methane emissions in the oil and gas sector

The Government of the USA announced that it will financially penalize emissions of methane of the sector of Petroleum and of natural gas to reduce the pollution caused by gases greenhouse effect.

He Methane Emissions Reduction Programas stated in a statement by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will force those oil and gas companies that exceed the emission levels of methane set by Congress to pay a fee.

The proposal – which Congress approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Law – will involve charging large energy producers 900 dollars for every ton of emissions methane that exceeds the limit; bliss rate would increase to $1,200 in 2025 and stabilize at $1,500 in 2026.

”We are focused on working together with companies, states and communities to ensure that USA lead the deployment of technologies and innovations that help develop a clean energy economy,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.

In the announcement, EPA specified that methane is “a climate superpollutant more potent than carbon dioxide” and that it is responsible for approximately one-third of global warming caused by greenhouse gases.

”We know that methane is more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Fortunately, the Methane Emissions Reduction Program will incentivize producers to reduce emissions of methane”said Senator Tom Carper, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

In this sense, for EPA, the rapid reduction of methane emissions in the oil and natural gas sector – which is the largest industrial source of such emissions in the US – is “a measure that can slow the rapid increase in global temperature.”

Precisely this Friday, NASA confirmed that 2023 has been the hottest year since records began, a fact that is directly related to climate change caused by polluting emissions.

Additionally, EPA is collaborating with the US Department of Energy to provide more than $1 billion in financial and technical assistance – contemplated in the Inflation Reduction Act – to this industry to “accelerate the transition to clean, low-emission technologies.”