Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma President Brook A. Simmons issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed methane rule:

The new EPA rule will be the most stringent methane emissions regulations ever, ignoring efforts already in practice by the U.S. oil and natural gas industry to produce and deliver the cleanest hydrocarbon molecules in the world. For the first time, EPA is proposing guidelines for states to regulate hundreds of thousands of low-producing wells operated by small oil and natural gas businesses instead of waiting on the scientific findings of a Department of Energy study on marginal well emissions.

Thanks to innovation and industry actions, methane emissions in the largest oil and natural gas producing regions of the country have declined, even as America produced more affordable, reliable and cleaner natural gas. In addition, the shift from using coal to abundant natural gas for power generation has allowed the U.S. to become the world leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The proposed methane rule is just one more avenue the Biden administration is using in its attempt to stop oil and natural gas production in the United States. Instead of partnering with and embracing the oil and natural gas industry’s ability to innovate and harness technology, the president has chosen to outsource energy production, calling for more oil from OPEC+ countries that have far less stringent environmental regulations than those already in place here.

The Biden administration’s efforts ignore the critical energy shortfalls being experienced in other parts of the world and are moving the U.S. from a nation of affordable, reliable and abundant energy to a nation of energy scarcity. This crisis will hit working families who need affordable energy to heat their homes, affordable fuel, and affordable consumer goods used on a daily basis.

Members of The Petroleum Alliance are committed to extracting, producing, transporting and refining crude oil and natural gas in a safe and environmentally sound manner, and we believe the U.S. oil and natural gas industry can provide abundant energy while also protecting the environment.

The Alliance’s members support reasonable regulations that are practical and economical to implement by all sizes of companies. We are reviewing the 250-plus page proposed rule and multiple supporting documents and will be submitting detailed comments to EPA.

ABOUT THE PETROLEUM ALLIANCE – The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma is the only trade association in Oklahoma that represents every segment of the oil and natural gas industry, representing more than 1,300 member companies engaged in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the state’s defining industry.