The oil and gas industry, including shale drillers, continue to wait on pins and needles for the jack boots of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to come down on their necks with new “rules” (i.e. laws from the Executive Branch, never sanctioned by a vote in the Legislative Branch) on methane emissions that supposedly come from oil and gas drilling. The EPA is desperately trying to regulate that which Constitutionally belongs to the states to regulate: oil and gas drilling. The latest word from nameless/faceless “sources” at the EPA is that they will wait until “after the holidays” to release these onerous new rules. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil, on their Perspectives blog site, points out shale drilling has already led to some of the lowest methane emissions in decades. They say shale drilling is “delivering in spades” when it comes to reducing methane emissions–so why are new rules from the EPA needed at all? It’s a great question from the largest oil and gas company in the U.S….
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