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The methane rule, finalized early this month, is a good example. Combined with a first-ever $1,500-per-ton methane emissions fee, the newest version remedies most of the flaws of the earlier drafts of the rule. Now, certified third parties will be authorized to seek out and report so-called super-emitters. The new rule will phase out flaring on new wells and require routine leak-detection surveys and repairs. And it applies to the leak-prone low-producing wells common in the Western U.S., despite the industry’s pleas for an exemption.
Experts predict that over the next 14 years, the rule will prevent the release of 58 million tons of methane emissions — the short-term climate-warming equivalent 4.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide* — as well as 16 million tons of health-harming volatile organic compounds. Robyn Jackson, executive director of Diné C.A.R.E., praised it as a “bold” move that will not only help slow climate change but also provide some relief to frontline communities bombarded by energy development.
This is hardly the climate “indifference” the College Democrats allege. In fact, if Biden continues in this vein, implementing all the fossil fuel-related reforms and regulations in the pipeline, he’s likely to go down as the strongest climate president so far.
None of this will matter in the long run unless the world finally kicks its fossil fuel habit.
But none of this will matter in the long run unless the world finally kicks its fossil fuel habit. And unfortunately, this addiction has long been enabled by the world’s largest supplier — and consumer — of the drug in question: The United States. Led by a drilling frenzy in the Permian Basin — much of it on federal public land in New Mexico — companies set an all-time annual domestic oil production record and are set to export more oil and liquefied natural gas than ever before. (The latter has been hampered by shipping capacity, which is expected to double over the next few years.) Like other pushers, American companies drilling on public lands are happily feeding the incessant demands of the climate-warming consumer. Broiling the planet, it turns out, is good for the industry’s bottom line: Altogether, the 10 largest operators in the Permian Basin raked in $26.3 billion in profit — yes, profit — during the third quarter of 2023 alone.
Clearly the Biden administration is not waging an all-out war on fossil fuels. Maybe it’s time it did.
* This is based on the short-term (20 year) warming potential of methane, which is 86 times that of carbon dioxide.
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