The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Methane and Waste Prevention Rule updates the current regulations governing venting and flaring of natural gas that have been in place for several decades. Venting and leaks contribute to large emissions of methane in the atmosphere.
Deborah Burney-Sigman is one of the founders of Breathe Utah. She said that Congress should support the BLM’s efforts to curb natural gas waste.
"It's got bipartisan support. It's really widely understood that controlling practices that allow so much of the natural gas to be lost to the atmosphere - rather than captured, and sold, and taxed for the community's benefit - that those technologies are outdated," she said.
That waste comes with a heavy price tag. According to the Department of the Interior, enough natural gas was lost between 2009 and 2015 to power over 6 million homes for a year. A study from the Environmental Defense Fund puts the financial losses at nearly $330 million annually.
The BLM first conducted public meetings on changing methane waste rules in 2014.
