Trump says EPA will end Biden-era methane rule for oil and gas wells

President Donald Trump said Tuesday his administration is ending a federal rule that limited methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, Trump said the change would save companies and consumers billions of dollars and unlock 210 million barrels of oil. He said that amount equals about 10 days of U.S. petroleum consumption. In his remarks, Trump said: "I'm officially terminating Biden's expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers $45 billion in costs." He said the Biden plan "crushed the small operators" with regulations.

The rule at issue was published in 2024 under former President Joe Biden and would have applied to existing oil and gas wells in the United States, not only new ones. Operators would have been required to plug leaking methane from smaller wells. Those small wells produce 6% of the nation's oil and gas and account for up to half of all methane emissions from oil and gas fields. The Environmental Protection Agency imposed an 18-month delay last year to give companies time to meet inspection requirements and other provisions.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin previewed the changes last month. He said the agency would eliminate its Super Emitter Program, which requires companies to investigate and repair major methane releases at oil and natural gas facilities. The agency would also set less restrictive standards for small oil and gas wells. Zeldin has said the rule would have cost $18 billion and was holding back the U.S. energy industry.

Federal officials under Biden estimated the rule would prevent 58 million tons, or 52.6 million metric tonnes, of methane emissions by 2038 and reduce other pollutants that cause health problems. By 2034, the rule was projected to yield $98 billion in benefits, calculated from the future social costs of greenhouse gas emissions on public health and the environment. Trump's EPA rejects that calculation method.

Methane makes up about a third of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to scientists. Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane, which is the main component in natural gas. The gas leaks from equipment and is released into the atmosphere or burned off as a waste product by oil drillers.

Environmental groups said the rollback will let companies continue releasing gas that could be captured and provide energy to households. Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said the change gives a "free pass" to companies at the expense of American consumers. "EPA should be fighting this waste, not making it easier," he said.

The change is part of a series of steps by Trump and Republicans in Congress to reverse climate policies put in place under Biden. Those steps have included revoking a scientific finding that was central to U.S. action on greenhouse gas emissions, lowering fuel economy standards for vehicles, and moving to repeal emission restrictions for coal and natural gas power plants.

The Biden methane rule was announced in 2023 at a U.N. climate conference in the United Arab Emirates by officials including former Vice President Kamala Harris. It was tied to a waste emissions charge of up to $1,500 per metric ton of methane on producers that exceeded a certain level of emissions. That fee, part of a 2022 climate law, was the first time the federal government directly imposed a fee on greenhouse gas emissions. Congress repealed it weeks after Trump took office.