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The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a new rule taxing methane emissions as the outgoing regime looks to impose its climate agenda on the oil and gas industry on the way out the door.
Biden’s signature climate change legislation that was contained in the Owellian-titled Inflation Reduction Act – a gargantuan package that was a Trojan horse for the extremist Green New Deal – included the Waste Emissions Charge provision. The administration was given discretion on how strongly it would apply the provision which was mandated by the U.S. Congress.
According to the EPA, the new fee applies to “methane from certain oil and gas facilities that report emissions of more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.”
BREAKING from #COP29
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new rule that requires oil and gas producers to pay a fee for releasing excess methane emissions.
The #methanefee, mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, requires violators to pay $900… pic.twitter.com/aXXfMer6l2
— World Resources Institute (@WorldResources) November 12, 2024
The new charge will begin at $900 per metric ton of “wasteful emissions” in 2024 and will increase to $1,200 in 2025 and $1,500 in 2026. The fee will continue to go up in each subsequent year.
“Methane is a climate ‘super pollutant’ — over 100 years, one ton of emitted methane traps 28 times as much heat in the Earth system as one ton of emitted carbon dioxide. The oil and natural gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States,” the EPA said in a press release on the new tax.
“The final Waste Emissions Charge is the latest in a series of actions under President Biden’s methane strategy to improve efficiency in the oil and gas sector, support American jobs, protect clean air, and reinforce U.S. leadership on the global stage,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.
“EPA has been engaging with industry, states, and communities to reduce methane emissions so that natural gas ultimately makes it to consumers as usable fuel — instead of as a harmful greenhouse gas. Along with EPA’s complementary set of technology standards and historic financial and technical resources under the Inflation Reduction Act, today’s action ensures that America continues to lead in deploying technologies and innovations that lower our emissions,” added Regan, who is set to be replaced by former GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin who was tapped by President-elect Donald J. Trump for the job.
Trump is expected to roll back much of the current administration’s climate agenda after he takes office, reversing the damage of the Biden-Harris war on the domestic fossil fuel industry.
“Thankfully, this insanity will end in January,” said Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) who said that the new tax will “raise costs and prevent investment,” according to Fox News.
“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin wrote on X after being picked by Trump to lead the EPA. “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”
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