Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Background: Following is a statement by Marty Durbin, president and chief executive officer of America's Natural Gas Alliance on the administration's announcement that it will impose new methane regulations on natural gas producers.
"We are disappointed the administration is choosing to take a regulatory approach that will take years to implement, rather than a cooperative approach with the industry that we believe will ultimately result in greater emissions reductions in a shorter timeframe."
"The natural gas industry has demonstrated its ability to significantly reduce methane emissions and our commitment to making further reductions through innovation. Natural gas production is up 37 percent since 1990, yet across the entire natural gas sector methane emissions are down 17 percent. In fact, EPA data shows that from 2011 - 2013, methane emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas wells declined by 73 percent.
"We agree with the White House that voluntary efforts to reduce emissions in a comprehensive and transparent manner hold the potential to realize significant, quick and cost effective emissions reductions, and we question why the administration would single out our sector for regulation, given our demonstrated reductions. Given that methane is also the product we sell and, therefore, want to capture, this was an opportunity to work with willing partners toward a shared goal.
"Greater use of natural gas has resulted in steep reductions in carbon emissions, and has greatly reduced air pollutants such as SOx, NOx, mercury and particulate matter. The administration itself has credited natural gas as a significant factor in achieving the president's climate goals, and they're right.
"We hope the agency will take into consideration the dramatic improvements the industry has already achieved, and will continue to achieve as the administration's regulatory process moves forward."
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