CHEYENNE, Wyo. — On Tuesday, March 26, Governor Mark Gordon submitted comments criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule establishing a waste emission charge for methane discharges from oil and gas facilities.
“There is little doubt this proposed rule will likely have significant regulatory and economic impacts on Wyoming and our oil and gas producers, but identifying those impacts is virtually impossible since it is tiered off the proposed Greenhouse Gas Reporting Proposed Rule and Methane Fee Proposed Rule,” Gordon said in the announcement. “This stacking renders accurate analysis highly speculative because we are basing comments on what might be.”
President Joe Biden announced in January a national goal of cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas industry in half by 2025. The EPA has supported the initiative, and on Jan. 26 proposed the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Proposed Rule and Methane Fee Proposed Rule to help meet that target.
According to the EPA, the program will impose and collect an annual charge on methane emissions from gas or oil facilities reporting more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases emitted per year. The agency states on its website that 25,000 mtCO2e is approximately equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2,300 homes or 4,600 passenger vehicles. The “Methane Fee” requires facilities to pay $900 in 2025 for its excess 2024 emissions, with the charge increasing to $1,200 in 2026 for 2025 excess emissions and to $1,500 in 2027 and each year beyond for the preceding year’s excess emissions.
“The goal of the program is to reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gas from the oil and gas sector, and non-GHG emissions such as volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants,” the EPA states in the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. “The program will also reduce emissions from oil and natural gas infrastructure in or near overburdened communities where people live, work and go to school.”
Governor Gordon’s comments to the rule stressed that states like Wyoming are effectively addressing methane and other emissions.