Sierra Club PA Applauds New EPA Methane Rule

Washington, DC --  Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final Clean Air Act protections against methane and other harmful pollution from the oil and gas industry, a major win for climate and public health. These safeguards strengthen standards for new equipment and also include the first-ever standards for existing equipment, which has been a major priority for the Sierra Club.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, driving approximately one-third of the warming our planet has experienced to date. Each year, the Pennsylvania oil and gas sector emits 1.1 million tons of methane into our atmosphere annually. Additionally, methane is emitted from oil and gas sources alongside other damaging pollutants, such as smog, and soot-forming volatile organic compounds and air toxins like benzene and formaldehyde – human carcinogens.  

In response, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter Director Tom Schuster issued the following statement:

“The EPA’s methane rule is a critical step toward ensuring that all oil and gas companies across Pennsylvania are held accountable for reducing their emissions and that our families will be able to breathe cleaner air and have a safer and more stable climate. We celebrate with our allies across Pennsylvania who have advocated alongside us for this rule for years, and we are prepared to work together to ensure these standards are correctly implemented and that fossil fuel companies and corporate polluters do not weaken these standards.”