American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015 - 49

ing leaks, especially from aging castiron and unprotected pipelines.
PHMSA and EPA have authority to
regulate different aspects of natural gas
pipelines, so it likely will take some time
for the agencies to develop a proposed path
forward.
The announcement of first-time
methane regulations confirms that EPA
plans to focus on new sources first, while
relying on a combination of voluntary initiatives and existing standards to control
methane emitted by existing sources. The

GEORGE O.
WILKINSON

George O. Wilkinson is a partner in
Vinson & Elkins' Houston office, and
has more than 20 years of experience
advising clients on business-critical environmental matters. His environmental law practice includes state and federal environmental litigation, environmental enforcement defense, emergency response, and environmental
compliance counseling on a range of
environmental matters, including the
Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act,
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability
Act, and other natural resource damage issues.

JORDAN
RODRIGUEZ

Jordan Rodriguez is an associate in
Vinson & Elkins' Houston office. His environmental practice involves regulatory compliance counseling and litigation
relating to air, water, and waste matters.
Rodriguez also studies issues related to
water rights and security, and monitors
developments in state and federal legislation and regulations.

administration has set a deadline to complete new rules by the end of 2016, although full implementation likely will re-

quire several more years. Specific details
will not be available until EPA publishes
a proposed rule this summer.
Ì

Obama Methane Emission Plan
Generates Negative Responses
WASHINGTON-The Obama administration's plans to cut methane emissions
from the oil and natural gas sector by 4045 percent from 2012 levels by 2025
drew criticism from a range of energy industry groups, as well as from some environmental organizations.
Lee Fuller, executive vice president
with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, says U.S. energy producers have demonstrated their commitment to reducing methane emissions, and
already are incentivized to further capture emissions using innovative technologies.
"The administration's own research
shows that while U.S. oil and natural gas
production has grown by 400 percent,
methane emissions have declined to 1.3
percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. Existing regulations on new gas
wells will further reduce these emissions," Fuller asserts.
He adds that the failure to include expected costs for these regulatory changes
is another reason for concern.
The White House would be better
served by recognizing that broad new
regulatory actions are unnecessary, and
instead focus on cooperative measures to
cost-effectively develop further reductions in this small component of the total GHG emissions inventory, Fuller offers.
New methane regulations that impose
another layer of burdensome requirements could disrupt the nation's energy
renaissance and slow industry progress
on reducing methane emissions, warns
Jack Gerard, president and chief executive officer at the American Petroleum Institute.
Duplication
Kathleen Sgamma, the Western Energy Alliance's vice president of government and public affairs, points out the
proposed rules duplicate regulations imposed by the Environmental Protection
Agency in 2012.
"Natural gas companies have greatly reduced emissions from the wellhead
already, even as production has soared,"
Sgamma says. "In turn, that huge supply

of natural gas enables the United States
to substantially reduce GHGs from its
largest source, electricity generation,
which vastly outweighs the small emissions from production facilities."
Institute for Energy Research President Thomas Pyle calls EPA's proposed
methane regulation redundant, costly
and unnecessary. Energy producers already are cutting methane emissions
because methane is a valuable commodity, and he says the new regulations
"would be like forcing ice cream makers to spill less ice cream."
The new regulations reveal that the
Obama administration's agenda is not
about climate, but rather about increasing the costs of using fossil fuels, Pyle
asserts.
Several anti-development groups
joined in criticizing the proposed
methane standard, arguing the revised
regulations, which target new production,
fail to include existing wells, pipelines
or facilities. Fred Krupp, president of the
Environmental Defense Fund, says more
decisive action is needed to mitigate the
methane issue.
Krupp asserts methane emissions are
both an environmental threat and a
needless waste that the energy industry
is failing to eliminate. He says oil and gas
companies squander enough natural gas
each year to heat almost six million
homes. According to the White House,
the proposed methane regulations would
save as much as 180 billion cubic feet of
natural gas, which is 0.6 percent of
2014 average U.S. gas production.
EDF contests the oil and gas industry's claim to have voluntarily undertaken mitigation measures, claiming that in
reality, the emission occurred largely because of state and federal policies.
Sierra Club Executive Director
Michael Brune says controlling methane
is not an end in itself. "Continued reliance
on dirty fossil fuels is a dangerous
course for our communities and our
climate," he asserts. "We must move
swiftly to truly clean energy such as
wind, solar and energy efficiency, while
establishing policies that keep fossil fuels in the ground."
Ì
FEBRUARY 2015 49

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015

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