IPANM (February 9, 2024) – Today, IPANM joined 26 state and federal oil & gas trade associations in expressing major concerns regarding the impacts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new methane emissions regulations (Subparts OOOOb and OOOOc) and the Methane Tax.  In a letter dated February 9, 2024, the joint trade letter reads, “Both actions threaten marginal wells continued operations by creating unfair, unworkable, and uneconomic regulations. These small business energy producers need assistance to find a regulatory or legislative solution to mitigate these threats.”

The letter cites the inadequacies of the proposed rules’ failure to understand existing facts about marginal well emissions (and lack there of), as well as improper formulas established to calculate a “Methane Tax.”  In both proposed rules, the outcome would lead to a disproportionate regulatory structure for marginal well owners and/or the over calculation of the actual emissions.

After citing the evidence supporting the current problems with both rules, the associations’ letter reads, “Collectively, the Subpart OOOOc regulations and the Methane Tax pose serious and direct threats to hundreds of thousands of marginal wells. These threats have not been remotely addressed in the current regulatory actions completed or pending at EPA. Congress needs to step up and step in to prevent irresponsible agency actions that would savage the nation’s marginal oil and natural gas wells.”

To see a full copy of the Associations’ Letter to Congress, please click below.

Associations’ Letter to Congress Regarding Problems with Federal Methane Rules