The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set standards which it believes will reduce the escape of 510,000 short tons of methane into the atmosphere from new and modified oil and gas wells by 2025.

Among the requirements, the EPA wants associated gas to be captured using green techniques that do not involve combustion engines in most cases. The comprehensive regulation would cost the industry about $530 million in 2025, the EPA said.

The regulations drew a sharp rebuke from industry and some members of Congress.

Oil and gas producers have long touted its contribution to lowering emissions through the conversion of electric generation from coal to gas switching. Methane emissions from hydraulic wells have fallen greatly and President Barack Obama has referred to natural gas as a “transition fuel” to a lower carbon future.

The new rules take aim chiefly at gas otherwise wasted in the field.

As part of the new regulations announced May 12—which take aim at methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and toxic air pollutants such as benzene—owners or operators of new or modified oil and gas well sites are required to develop and implement leak monitoring plans and use optical gas imaging to conduct leak surveys. All leaks must be repaired.

In addition, operators of hydraulically fractured oil wells must capture natural gas through green completions—a process that separate gas and liquids from the flowback enabling it to be treated and used or sold, according to the EPA. The rule, which will be phased in, does not apply if it is not “technically feasible to get the gas to a pipeline.” If that is the case, combustion must be used during the well completion process to lower emissions.

Operators of diaphragm pumps at natural gas wells must also route methane and VOC emissions from the pumps to a control device or process on-site.

The rules are part of an effort to address climate change, with a goal lowering methane by up to 45% below 2012 levels by 2025. Methane, a key ingredient of natural gas, is the second-highest greenhouse gas emitted by human activity in the U.S. following carbon dioxide, according to the EPA.

“Today, we are underscoring the Administration’s commitment to finding commonsense ways to cut methane—a potent greenhouse gas fueling climate change—and other harmful pollution from the oil and gas sector,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “Together these new actions will protect public health and reduce pollution linked to cancer and other serious health effects while allowing industry to continue to grow and provide a vital source of energy for Americans across the country.”

Industry leaders saw the regulations as an attempt to attack the goose laying golden eggs.

“Between 2006 and 2014, 61.4 percent of carbon dioxide emissions reductions in the U.S. electric power sector came from fuel shifting toward natural gas,” said Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO). “Onerous and unnecessary regulations only cause more strain on our economy, increased expense to consumers and the companies that employ American workers, with little or no true environmental benefit.”

Although the EPA said about a third of the emissions come from the production of oil and the production, transmission and distribution of natural gas, industry leaders have said they have made strides in emissions reductions. About 20% of methane emissions are generated by waste from homes and businesses as it decomposes in landfills.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) called the regulations unreasonable.

“Even as oil and natural gas production has risen dramatically, methane emissions have fallen, thanks to industry leadership and investment in new technologies,” said API Vice President of Regulatory and Economic Policy Kyle Isakower. “It doesn’t make sense that the administration would add unreasonable and overly burdensome regulations when the industry is already leading the way in reducing emissions. Imposing a one-size-fits-all scheme on the industry could actually stifle innovation and discourage investments in new technologies that could serve to further reduce emissions.”

Development and use of shale gas helped the U.S. cut power sector carbon emissions to near 20-year lows, Isakower added.

In 2013, Obama noted that natural gas was a job creator and had lowered many families’ heat and power bills.

“It’s the transition fuel that can power our economy with less carbon pollution even as our businesses work to develop and then deploy more of the technology required for the even cleaner energy economy of the future,” he said.

Since 2011, methane emissions from oil and gas operations have dropped by 13%. Such emissions from hydraulic fractured gas wells have dropped by 83%. Companies are capturing natural gas at the wellhead after a well is completed instead of flaring it, capitalizing on what could have been wasted gas. Plus, proactive states—including Colorado, Ohio and Wyoming—have implemented monitoring and repair programs.

But methane emissions, including gas generated from livestock used for human food production, are still a problem. Methane released into the atmosphere lasts 12 years, according to the EPA.

The EPA modified parts of its August 2015 proposal after receiving more than 900,000 comments on the issue. Changes included:

  • Aligning final standards with comparable state requirements;
  • Removing an exemption for low production wells; and
  • Requiring leak monitoring surveys twice as often at compressor stations.

“The science is showing that leaks or equipment malfunctions can pop up anywhere at any time and that big emissions can be the result of a number of small sources,” Mark Brownstein, vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund's oil and gas program, told Reuters.

Don Santa, president and CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (IPAA), expressed concern about quarterly monitoring at compressor stations.

“We are disappointed that the value of EPA’s decision to allow a more economic leak-detection method (Method 21) was undermined by the very low leak threshold of 500 ppm,” Santa said in a statement.

Republican members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee—Fred Upton (R-MI), Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and John Shimkus (R-IL)—condemned the move, saying it will add “burdens and costs to an already highly regulated industry.”

“We will continue to review the legality and merits behind EPA’s regulatory bonanza, and the potential impacts on consumers,” committee leaders said in a statement.

In addition to the rules, the EPA announced it is seeking information about technologies that can help lower emissions and related costs as it works to develop methane reduction regulations for existing oil and gas sources. It also plans to initiate a search for innovative ways to “accurately and cost-effectively locate, measure and mitigate methane emissions.”

Velda Addison can be reached at vaddison@hartenergy.com.