Carper Slams EPA Proposal to Weaken Methane Emission Standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed rollbacks of methane standards for the oil and gas industry under the Clean Air Act’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) program. 

“Over the last two and a half years, the Trump Administration has continued to pursue a course that would increase profit margins for the oil and gas industry, even if it means cutting commonsense public health and environmental protections. Today’s proposal is another step down that troubling and misguided path.

“The risks posed by methane gas are deadly serious, which is why there has long been bipartisan consensus that we need to protect people and our planet from it. We know that methane exposure causes illness or worse, especially among children. We also know that methane is a major driver of climate change, far more potent than carbon dioxide. And EPA’s own website acknowledges that the oil and gas industry is ‘the largest industrial source of the potent greenhouse gas methane.’

“This proposed rule is a reckless course reversal on commonsense regulations that ignores the clear evidence that methane poses real dangers to human health and the environment. It’s also willfully ignorant to Americans’ clarion call for action to address the climate crisis. The American people deserve better.”

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