Air Quality

Yesterday President Obama signaled now the war on coal is largely won (coal lost), he’s moved on to a war on the oil and gas industry. The White House announced their intent to have the federal EPA and other agencies, like the Bureau of Land Management, impose onerous new “rules” on so-called fugitive methane emissions in the oil and gas industry (see White House Pledges to Cut “Fugitive” Methane by 40-45%). Here’s what you need to know about yesterday’s announcement: So far, there are no specifics as to how the EPA will cut those emissions by 40-45%–what draconian measures they will adopt. That’s coming along this summer. Yesterday’s announcement was simply “get ready for the next shoe to drop.” It was Obama, like the bully he is, telling his intended victims he’s coming and he’s going to beat them up, real bad. So now we wait until “summer” when the shoe will drop. Below we have reaction, both praising and condemning Obama’s plan to regulate methane emissions…
Read More “Reaction to Obama’s Draconian Plan to Cut “Fugitive” Methane 45%”

The Barack Hussein Obama administration continues to push its agenda on so-called Climate Change by ramming through unlegislated regulatory actions that threaten the oil and gas industry. The latest Obama boogeyman is that evil, nasty criminal–“fugitive methane.” Supposedly methane (natural gas to the hoi polloi) is a bazillion times more “potent” as a “greenhouse gas” than it’s less nefarious cousin CO2 (carbon dioxide, the stuff you breathe out with every breath). Of course it’s in the best interest of energy companies that extract, pipeline and sell methane to keep as much of it as possible in “the system” and from “escaping” so they can sell it–a fact that seems to escape the our brilliant leader. Inevitably, some methane molecules slip out around valves, through cracks, etc. and into the atmosphere where, according to Obama, it acts to heat Mother Earth. Never mind the average temperature of the earth hasn’t gone up for 18 years now (see Inconvenient Global Warming Fact: Avg Temp Hasn’t Risen in 18 Yrs). Right on cue the President, who persists in shredding the Constitution, is about to feed the next sheet into the shredder by having his EPA issue new regulations to control methane emissions. They claim they can cut methane emissions 40-45% by 2025…
Read More “White House Pledges to Cut “Fugitive” Methane by 40-45%”

Two weeks ago MDN gave E&P and midstream companies a heads-up that another onerous new “rule” (i.e. law) is coming from the out-of-control Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that requires energy companies to file greenhouse gas emissions reports for just about everything–wellpads, pipelines, compressor stations (see EPA Issues New Rules for O&G Industry on GHG Emissions Reporting). A whole new level of reporting is coming at you. On Tuesday the EPA published their proposed rule change in the Federal Register (copy below)…
Read More “Clock Ticking for Comment on EPA Rule on Greenhouse Gas Reporting”