U.S. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and members of the House Energy Action Team (HEAT) last week commended the release of updated federal regulations on methane emissions.
The “action by the Trump administration repeals overly burdensome, job-killing regulations and provides much-needed relief to struggling American energy producers and the jobs they support,” Rep. Scalise said. “I applaud President Trump for his efforts to strengthen American energy independence by reducing onerous regulations while continuing to ensure proper environmental protections are in place.”
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Aug. 13 announced two final rules for the oil and natural gas industry to reduce regulatory burdens for oil and natural gas entities and protect human health and the environment. Combined, the two final rules are estimated to yield net benefits of $750 million to $850 million from 2021 to 2030, the annualized equivalent of about $100 million a year, according to the EPA.
“In Louisiana and across the country, American energy producers are fighting to survive the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and economic shutdowns,” said Rep. Scalise. “The United States already has some of the strongest environmental standards in the world, proven by the fact that methane emissions have continued to decrease even as we have become the world leader in oil and gas production.”
U.S. Reps. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), co-chairs of HEAT, joined Rep. Scalise to applaud the EPA’s rules to further the Trump administration’s Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth, which required the review of regulations that “burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources.”