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US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday plans to significantly ease restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas producers, targeting regulations aimed at limiting the release of the potent greenhouse gas.
The regulations were introduced under former Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Tonight, I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers $45 billion,” Trump said at the rally in Lubbock, Texas.
Trump told a cheering crowd that the move would “unlock vast quantities of Texas natural gas.” Texas is the largest fossil fuel-producing state in the United States.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had previously estimated savings of $45 billion (around €39 billion) earlier this month, but provided no detailed breakdown of the figure,
“Americans must be able to afford to heat their homes in the winter and fill up their car and drive to work,” said EPA administrator Lee Zeldin. “They can’t do that when the people producing the energy are weighed down by unnecessary burdens.”
Methane’s impact on global warming
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide, accounting for roughly a third of the rise in global temperatures since pre-industrial times, or around 0.5°C.
Although methane traps significantly more heat than carbon dioxide, it remains in the atmosphere for just seven to 12 years, compared with hundreds of years for CO₂.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United States is the world’s largest source of methane emissions from oil and gas production, followed by Russia.
Additional sources • AFP