WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet sent a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan urging incorporation of methane emission data from advanced measurement technologies and “top-down” data, helping provide a more comprehensive picture as the agency works to modernize methane reporting under its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) to better combat climate change.
“Methods currently in development to incorporate top-down data at the regional and site level promise to provide more accurate total emission estimates,” wrote the Senators. “Incorporating top-down data should not be limited to the detection and quantification of high-emitting point sources.”
View the full letter here.
Methane is a climate pollutant many times more potent than carbon dioxide, especially in the near-term. Human-caused methane emissions are responsible for at least 25 percent of the climate warming we are experiencing today. Colorado is a national leader when it comes to limiting methane from oil and gas systems and was the first state to adopt commonsense rules for methane pollution for new and existing oil and gas facilities.
Hickenlooper and Bennet have consistently worked to cut methane emissions and strengthen federal oil and gas methane rules, modeled on Colorado’s. In 2021, Hickenlooper and Bennet led members of the Colorado congressional delegation to push the EPA for stronger methane regulations for the oil and gas sector. In February, the senators urged the EPA to use data from innovative monitoring technologies like satellite imaging, and tighten restrictions on routine flaring to strengthen methane emission standards. Earlier that month, Hickenlooper and Bennet urged BLM to follow Colorado’s lead by eliminating routine venting and flaring from oil and gas operations on public and Tribal lands.
In October, the senators also wrote to DOI and BLM in support of proposed rules updating oil and gas bonding requirements.
###