TULSA, Okla. (May 13, 2016) - On May 12, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced three final rules to regulate methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector. The rules are Clean Air Act New Source Performance Standards, a source determination rule, and a final federal implementation plan for New Source Review on Native American lands. In addition to the three final rules, EPA issued a draft two-part information collection request (ICR) for methane data from existing oil and gas operations, which is the first step toward regulating methane emissions from existing sources.

“While we are appreciative of EPA’s efforts to work with us in a collaborative manner to refine the final rules for new and modified sources, we remain deeply concerned with EPA’s ICR for existing sources,” said GPA Midstream Association President and CEO Mark Sutton. “The natural gas industry has done an admirable job voluntarily reducing methane emissions, but EPA seems committed to placing a hard target on the back of the natural gas industry. GPA Midstream will continue to work with EPA to ensure that these methane rules are reasonable for our industry.”

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