Porter Ranch Estates sit at the foothills near a Southern California Gas well that has been leaking methane daily near the community of Porter Ranch, California, January 7, 2016. Source: AP/Michael Own Baker

Washington, D.C. –(ENEWSPF)–February 4, 2016.  In August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, proposed limits on methane pollution from oil and gas operations that will come online in the future. The Center for American Progress has released a column offering five reasons why the EPA should act before the end of the Obama administration and propose limits on methane pollution from all sources that are already in operation.

“As part of its strategy to fight climate change, the Obama administration set an ambitious and laudable goal of cutting methane pollution from the oil and gas sector by 2025,” said Alison Cassady, Director of Domestic Energy Policy at CAP and author of the column. “To achieve that goal, the EPA will need to make sure that that all oil and gas operations—including wells and equipment already in operation—meet tough methane emissions standards for this potent greenhouse gas.”

The column outlines five compelling reasons why the EPA should propose standards for existing sources in the oil and gas sector, including new studies showing the need for a new rule in order to achieve the administration’s goal for the sector; the potential for methane pollution to increase as a result of Congress lifting the oil export ban; new state action to regulate methane emissions from the oil and gas sector; and the massive methane leak in southern California, which stands as an extreme example of the devastating effect that leaky infrastructure can have on the climate and communities.

Click here to read the column.

Source: http://www.americanprogress.org