New Steps Are Being Taken To Cut Methane Waste From Oil and Gas Operations, but More Can Be Done
Methane waste occurs every time natural gas is flared (burned), vented (released), or leaked during the oil and gas drilling process, and unfortunately flaring and venting happens in the absence of regulations to prevent such a practice. Evidence supports that these hazardous emissions impact global warming, the environment, and our public health.
This unnecessary methane waste goes against everything we love about the clean air and delicate ecosystems in the Southwest.
For over four decades, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had been utilizing outdated requirements for regulating venting and flaring from oil and gas companies. However, recently, the agency proposed new rules to reduce methane waste on public lands and was accepting public comments until January 30th, 2023.
HECHO joined different environmental organizations and other groups in two separate letters for the BLM providing recommendations to improve old practices, pointing at the waste issues on BLM-administered and leased public lands, detailing BLM’s legal obligations under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA), and stating the benefits of reducing waste.
While the BLM's new proposed regulations cut natural gas waste during oil and gas production activities on public federal and Tribal lands, more is needed to completely eliminate all forms of waste from oil and gas infrastructure. For example, flared gas is not included in the proposed rule.
The BLM has a legal obligation to reduce both venting and flaring under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA). However, because the new proposed rules do not require any capture of flared gas, it fails to reduce a significant source of waste and violates the MLA’s mandate.
Conservation and community groups, including HECHO, have urged BLM to take an alternative regulatory approach to ensure that the largest source of wasted gas stops. States like New Mexico and Colorado are leading the efforts to slash unnecessary waste from oil and gas operations. The BLM can indeed apply these same clear waste prevention standards.
Energy companies have been releasing millions of cubic feet of natural gas into the air for decades. BLM estimates that in 2019 operators vented or flared about 151.7 billion cubic feet of gas on the leases it administers. But the actual amounts of waste on federal and Tribal lands are likely to be higher than government estimates because the agency's analysis only captures the waste that is reported by operators, yet excludes lost gas from leaks and abandoned wells.
According to an economic analysis, over $500 million worth of natural gas was wasted in 2019 by oil and gas companies operating on public lands through venting, flaring, and leaking gas.
Another study by Synapse Energy Economics found that $ 63.3 million in royalties, $18.8 million in state revenue from taxes, and $509 million in gas value were lost due to venting, flaring, and leaks on public lands. The nearly $64 million loss of royalties could help improve our schools, roads, and other infrastructure.
According to the 2023 Conservation in the West poll, 93% of Latino voters favor requiring oil and gas developers to require them to update their equipment and technology to prevent leaks.
Eliminating once and for all the harmful pollution of methane emissions is consistent with the current administration’s commitments to tackle climate change and promote environmental justice.
Nearly 25% of the fossil fuel emissions in the United States come from our public lands, so by putting an end to the waste in these shared federal and Tribal lands, we can make them part of the climate solution.
The unnecessary venting, flaring, and leaking from oil and gas wells fuels the climate crisis, threatens our health, and distances us from maintaining warming below 1.5°C ((2.7°F) to prevent damage that will be impossible to reverse.
We have an opportunity to tackle the climate crisis, find solutions to the broken oil and gas leasing program, ensure efficient and responsible use of federal public lands, safeguard our natural resources, and protect our communities and taxpayers.
We urge the Bureau of Land Management to strengthen the Methane Waste Prevention Rule further by revising its proposed new rules to minimize both venting and flaring.