WASHINGTON, March 16, 2016 - The
Obama administration is moving ahead with plans to reduce methane emissions by
40 to 45 percent. The good news for agriculture is that the administration’s
latest plan would only target emissions from the oil and gas industry, not
farming. (The sigh of relief you hear is from Hillary Clinton, who will have to
carry most of the Midwest in November if she’s the Democratic presidential
nominee.)
Methane is a major greenhouse gas, up to 20 times more potent than
carbon dioxide.
The Environmental Protection Agency, which is already requiring
energy companies to control methane leakage from new and modified wells, will now order the oil and gas industry to
provide information on their methane emissions from existing industry wells and
other facilities, including transmission lines.
“To get all the way to that goal (of reducing emissions up to 45
percent) we’ll be having
to tackle emissions from existing sources,” said EPA Administrator Gina
McCarthy, who announced the plan during Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau’s state visit last week.
An industry specialist with the Bracewell lobbying firm, Sandra
Snyder said the additional steps that the EPA plans will add cost to the
industry at a time when its already struggling with falling oil and gas prices.
“When companies own tens of thousands of wells, documentation and record
keeping becomes a real issue, she said. “Regulation might also reduce the
methods available to achieve the desired results: reducing leaks.”
The Canadian government, meanwhile, has committed to regulating
methane emissions from both new and existing oil and gas sources and plans to
propose rules next year.
A joint U.S.-Canadian statement on methane didn’t address
agriculture, although a new study of methane emission
trends published in the journal Science claims that emissions have likely been
increasing since 2006 mostly because of agriculture, not fossil fuels. “If so, mitigating (methane) emissions must
be balanced with the need for food production,” the authors wrote.
Much of the focus on reducing
methane losses in agriculture has focused on measures such as the installation
of digesters on dairy farms.
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com