Strategies for Controlling Methane From the Oil and Gas Sector (ELI Professional Practice Seminar)

When
November 13, 2014 11:00 am — 12:30 pm

An ELI Professional Practice Seminar

This past March, the White House put forth a new strategy to reduce methane emissions as part of its comprehensive Climate Action Plan, and EPA is following up by developing both regulatory and voluntary approaches to controlling methane emissions from oil and gas operations.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with an impact more than 80 times greater to the environment than CO2 over a 20-year time-frame. The main sources of methane are the natural gas and petroleum industry, agriculture, and waste from landfills. Last spring, ELI conducted a webinar addressing the technical aspects of quantifying methane emissions from oil and gas production, including the debate over the size of those emissions and how best to measure them.

With EPA now turning its attention to emission reduction, what mechanisms can be used under the Clean Air Act to regulate the industry and how effective are these approaches likely to be? Can sufficient progress be made through voluntary approaches, perhaps building on the well-established EPA Natural Gas STAR program? Given methane’s large-scale impact, why has it become the “understudy” for carbon dioxide and not the “star” pollutant for climate change regulation and why is now the time to turn our attention toward methane?

This seminar brought together a diverse panel of experts to weigh the pros and cons of different approaches to methane control. The panel explained how the oil and gas sector can be an active partner in new initiatives and how the reduction of methane fits into the larger strategy for addressing climate change.

Faculty:
Robert Sussman
, Principal, Sussman and Associates (moderator)
Tomás Carbonell, Attorney, Environmental Defense Fund
Howard Feldman, Director, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, American Petroleum Institute
Joseph Goffman, Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel to the Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Materials:
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