Washington (AP)-the Congress controlled by Republicans has voted in favor of the cancellation of a federal fee for oil and gas producers who publish a high degree of methane, and an essential piece of the former climate policy of the former president Joe Biden, who aims to control the planetary shift, “super-damaged”.
The Senate voted 52-47 on Thursday with the lifting of the fee after a similar votes for the house on Wednesday. The measure now goes to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.
Methane is a much stronger global heating gas than carbon dioxide, especially at miniature notice, and is responsible for about a third of the world warming so far. Oil and gas producers are among the largest US methane emitters, and it is crucial to tackle climate change.
Most huge oil and gas companies do not release enough methane to trigger the fee, which is 900 US dollars per ton, an amount that is increased to $ 1,500 by 2026. The measure was part of the law on the reduction in inflation of 2022, but the environmental protection authority only officially stated rules at the end of last year.
This timing made it susceptible to the Congress’s review Act, which enables the congress to adopt a resolution in order to reverse rules that are completed towards the end of the term of the term of a president. If these resolutions say goodbye and the president signs them, the rule ends and the agencies cannot make a similar edition.
“It is a sad proof of the influence of Big Oil on the Capitol Hill that one of the top priorities of the congress is an obvious handout for the worst actors in the fossil fuel industry,” said Tyson Slocum, director of the Public Citizen energy program.
The American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobby group for the oil and gas industry, welcomed the move and described the fee as “double, punitive tax on American energy production that stabs innovation”.
“Thanks to the industry actions, methane emissions continue to decrease with increasing production and we support the development of this advances through intelligent and effective regulation,” said Amanda Eversole, Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer at the API.
The methapine centers in the atmosphere worldwide increased steadily.
The Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia, the chairman of the Senate’s environmental and public committee, spoke for the abolition of the Senate floor.
“We should expand and not restrict natural gas production. Instead, natural gas production will restrict American natural gas production, which leads to increased energy prices and increases the production of natural gas in Russia, ”she said.
When gas exposes gas, the manufacturer wastes gas that he can store and sell.
The cancellation of the methane fee is the last of several pro-oil and gas movements that Republicans have taken since Trump’s term of office. On his first day, he explained a national energy emergency and demanded more oil and gas production and fewer environmental exams. The Democrats could not collapse this explanation yesterday. Trump has also lifted a break for novel applications for liquefied natural gas export terminals, the USA removed from the Paris climate agreement and opened other areas of public areas and waters for oil and gas bores.
The fee for methane publications was aimed at obtaining companies to comply with better practices in order to contain the emissions and make their business more effective. The EPA had announced that the fee would reduce methane emissions by 1.2 million tons by 2035 – this is roughly the same as removing 8 million cars from the road for one year.
The Biden administration had also implemented methane regulations for existing oil and gas fountain after approaching methane that could escape from novel wells. At the time, the EPA meant that the fee supplemented this rule and concentrated on the worst dirt.
According to a recently carried out study, about half of all methane emissions from fountains come from only 6%that are smaller producers.
___
Phillis reported St. Louis.
___
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for reporting on water and environmental policy. The AP is only responsible for all content. For the entire environmental reporting of AP can be found at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-envirste
