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The Trump administration is expected to announce Thursday a reduction in methane emissions from the oil fields – the latest initiative by the administration to cancel environmental regulations of the Obama era.
The Environmental Protection Agency's plan would ease requirements for oil and gas sites to monitor methane leaks and butchers, the Associated Press reported, citing industry groups and environmental groups.
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The oil and gas industry is the main source of methane emissions in the country, accounting for nearly a third in 2016.
Advocates of the environment have stated that they expect the plan to go further than the previous proposals and aim to exempt companies from leak detection and removal obligations at oil and gas sites. .
According to the Wall Street Journal, the plan would also end the legal requirements that require the EPA to establish emission regulations for pre-existing well and industrial sites.
"The purpose of this rule is to arrive at the fundamental basis of whether [methane] Anne Idsal, Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Air and Radiation of the Environmental Protection Agency, told the Journal. "It is not a question of whether we are doing the maximum we can or should do to deal with climate change.
A Qatari LNG tanker loaded with LNG at the Raslaffans port in northern Qatar. (AP photo, file)
The proposal begins with a 60-day public comment period, followed by a review of the administration. The Review reports that the administration aims to finalize the rules by 2020.
Methane is a component of natural gas that is often wasted during drilling operations. Scientists believe that carbon dioxide is a more powerful factor in climate change than carbon dioxide, even if it contains less carbon dioxide.
This is the latest in a series of aggressive measures by the government to lower the rules imposed by the government of former President Obama.
In June, the EPA finalized its plans to replace the Obama era regulations on emissions from coal-fired power plants. The administrator Andrew Wheeler also signed the rule on affordable clean energy, which gives each state the discretion to decide whether it is necessary to require limited efficiency improvements in the coal plants.
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This rule, once fully implemented, allows states to choose their own energy plans. States will have three years to submit the plan and EPA will have 12 months to approve it. Wheeler called this a sign that "fossil fuels will continue to be an important part of the mix" in the United States energy supply.
President Trump has long been skeptical about the effects of emissions and other activities on climate change. Last year, he also released the United States from the Paris International Climate Agreement, signed by the United States under President Obama.
Alex Pappas of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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