Methane is a greenhouse gas, emitted both by natural sources and from human activity. Methane is also the largest component of natural gas, the product that companies sell. Operators have every incentive to capture and sell as much of this product as possible to American consumers, rather than letting it escape into the atmosphere. And independent oil and natural gas producers have made great strides in reducing our carbon footprint by cutting emissions without raising energy costs.
In fact, the United States leads the world in the reduction of carbon emissions, even as the production of U.S. oil and natural gas continues to increase. Our success in lowering carbon emissions in the United States is not because of additional regulations, but because of the increased use of clean-burning natural gas.
Check out IPAA’s latest fact sheets, EPA Methane Regulation and Low Production Wells and Natural Gas & Oil Production Methane Emissions Management.
IPAA endorses The Environmental Partnership, a voluntary program comprised of companies in the U.S. oil and natural gas industry committed to continuously improving the industry’s environmental performance. It includes companies of all sizes, including many of the country’s major oil and natural gas producers. Learn more about the program at www.theenvironmentalpartnership.org.
According to the latest U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory, methane emissions from oil and natural gas systems have decreased 19 percent since 1990 (249 million metric tons to 202 mmt) at the same time natural gas production has increased 52 percent and oil production has increased 28 percent. Read more…
The latest U.S. government data show greenhouse gas emissions continuing to decline thanks to increased use of clean-burning natural gas. Read more…
DENVER – Western Energy Alliance and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) today achieved an important victory in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming, along with the states of Montana, North Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Judge Scott Skavdahl’s decision vacated the 2016 waste prevention rule, an overreaching......
08 October, 2020Small businesses’ low production wells are relieved of inappropriate regulatory burdens that were never designed for these operations WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representing the independent producers that develop 91 percent of America’s oil and natural gas wells, Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) Executive Vice President Lee Fuller issued the following statement......
13 August, 2020These comments are filed in response to supplemental comments filed on April 13, 2020, by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) for itself and several other professional environmental issues advocacy organizations (EDF 2020 Comments). The EDF 2020 Comments address issues that arise in both the EPA......
03 June, 2020Changes Have Significant Implications for Small Business Producers WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the EPA’s announcement today of changes from the Obama-era methane regulations (the 2016 New Source Performance Standards [NSPS], Subpart OOOOa), including the change of the regulated emission from methane to volatile......
29 August, 2019Dear Administrator Wheeler: The following Supplemental Comments are submitted on the above-referenced proposed Reconsideration Rulemaking (“Reconsideration Rulemaking”) on behalf of the following national and state trade associations: the Independent Petroleum Association of America (“IPAA”), American Exploration & Production Council (“AXPC”), Domestic Energy Producers Alliance (“DEPA”),......
17 June, 2019WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) released the following statement from IPAA Executive Vice President Lee Fuller after the Senate voted to confirm Andrew Wheeler as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator: “As IPAA outlined when he was nominated for the......
28 February, 2019