The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new rule to cut methane from oil and gas extraction.
The EPA calls methane a “super-polluter.” It’s many times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
West Virginia is one of the country’s leading gas producers and home to a large network of wells, pipelines and storage facilities.
The oil and gas sector is a big emitter of methane, and the new EPA rule aims to cut 1.2 million metric tons of it by 2035 – the equivalent of the emissions of 8 million gasoline-powered cars.
The EPA will impose a waste emissions charge to encourage the capture of methane and avoid the release. Producers can avoid the fee over time by complying with the standards set by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act.
However, a new president and a new Congress will take office in January and could try to overturn the new methane rule.
Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who’s in line to become chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said the election would have consequences.
“This natural gas tax will inflate prices for consumers and reduce domestic energy production, which will empower our adversaries abroad,” she said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues and President (Elect) Trump to repeal this misguided tax early in the next Congress.”