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EPA's comment period garnered support for federal methane regulation, but opportunities remain for leading companies to raise ambition in public comments later this year. In this report, EDF reviews the public comments and statements made by the top 10 largest US onshore energy producers, including Chevron, bp, Shell, and ExxonMobil.

EPA’s comment period saw broad support for federal methane regulation, but opportunities remain for leading companies to raise ambition in public comments later this year.

A new EDF map is making it easier to access information about the communities across the country who are impacted by pollution from small oil and gas wells with leak-prone equipment. There are over half a million wells across the country that are producing less than 15 barrels of oil and gas a day. But …

The last two months have seen encouraging momentum in the effort to tackle emissions of methane — a greenhouse gas that drives over a quarter of current warming — and the practice of flaring, which is a major source of energy waste and methane pollution. Starting with last month’s Major Economies Forum, one of the …

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent climate change ruling has unfortunately restricted the tools available to EPA in its effort to address climate pollution from power plants. However, it’s also important to recognize that the ruling in no way changed EPA’s longstanding authority and duty to address climate pollution under the Clean Air Act to address …

Video footage of low-producing oil & gas well emissions.

Direct emission reductions from natural and agricultural systems coupled with equity and efficiency can address multiple sustainability goals. The post New research shows how to improve the voluntary carbon market to accelerate investment in nature first appeared on Growing Returns.

The objective of this paper, co-authored by EDF, is to give policy makers, regulators, and other stakeholders a description of the main policy and regulatory levers available to realize the significant methane mitigation opportunities in the oil and gas sector. It aims to provide an overview of the different policy instrument options and thereby help policy makers assess which option is most attractive given regional circumstances and the relevant regulatory and political constraints.

This week EDF published a new study that combines locations of active oil and gas wells with census tract data in a way that helps us better understand the characteristics of the communities living near them.

New EDF research explores the demographics of people living near active oil and gas wells

Enteric methane is emitted when ruminants, like cows, digest their food. These emissions are the single largest source of agricultural methane emissions, which makes reducing enteric emissions a massive opportunity to slow warming, today. New breakthrough technologies coming to market are giving companies across the food and agricultural supply chain the ability to partner with …

Despite widespread commitments among oil producers to reduce natural gas flaring, 2021 saw a net increase in flaring emissions worldwide.

By Ted Kelly The need to replace South Jersey’s leaking and leak-prone pipelines while planning to move New Jersey’s energy system away from fossil fuels became major news today when the Board of Public Utilities approved a settlement for the utility to address leaks in the gas system. South Jersey Gas is now one of …

EDF Moves to Defend Gas Pipeline Safety, Environmental Standards in Court

EDF analysis reveals how the oil & gas industry is failing to use a key lever to reduce climate-warming emissions from flaring, the wasteful and climate-polluting practice of burning natural gas that is associated with oil production.

The U.S. recently committed to provide an additional 50 BCM/yr of U.S. LNG to the European Union to offset Russian gas imports. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) estimates that reducing waste of natural gas from leaks and flaring could comprise more than half of that 50 BCM/yr commitment.

An ongoing methane leak involving several long-term idle wells in Southern California is raising safety concerns for nearby residents and highlights an important climate issue. Southern California has some of the worst air quality in the country, and leaks like these compound the negative impacts on some of the country’s most vulnerable populations. Both in …

By Andrew Howell, CFA It’s annual general meeting season in the U.S. — when shareholders hold companies to account and press management to do better. A record 71 climate-related resolutions will be presented this year at public companies, more than double the number last year. But with a more ambitious suite of resolutions, fewer are …

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a leading international nonprofit organization, announced today it has signed a new agreement with Seoul National University Graduate School of Environmental Studies (SNU GSES) to study where and how much methane escapes from the nation’s gas delivery system in Seoul.

English language brochure for World Gas Conference 2022

A rapid, full-scale effort to reduce methane emissions could slow the worldwide rate of warming by as much as 30%.

By Erin Murphy and Joe von Fischer New peer-reviewed research reveals neighborhoods with more people of color and lower household income tended to have more gas leaks. Because natural gas is composed primarily of methane, leaks are a source of climate pollution as well as a health and safety hazard and nuisance to nearby communities.

A new study published today in the journal Environmental Science and Technology reveals that in U.S. cities, natural gas pipeline leaks are more prevalent in neighborhoods whose populations are predominately low-income or people of color.

Methane leaks from oil and gas sites represents a problem on many fronts. They create harmful air pollution, contribute to global warming and can even cause explosions. They also result in a lot of wasted gas. Colorado and New Mexico — two of the nation’s leading energy producers — recently ramped up their methane pollution …

A new study published this week in the journal Nature Communications reveals that low-producing oil and gas wells are responsible for approximately half of the methane emitted from all well sites in the United States while accounting for only 6% of the nation’s oil and gas production.