The Trump administration is set to announce a major rollback on the regulation of methane emissions, according to The New York Times. Methane comes in just behind carbon dioxide as the second most significant greenhouse gas, and it currently makes up nearly 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency will reportedly announce a move to eliminate federal government requirements that the oil and gas industry must have technology to find and repair methane leaks from wells, pipelines and storage facilities. “Just at a time when the federal government’s job should be to help localities and states move faster toward cleaner energy and a cleaner economy, just at that moment when speed and scale is what’s at stake, the government is walking off the field,” said Rachel Kyte, the United Nations special representative on sustainable energy. The new rule will need to go through a period of review and would most likely be finalized early next year.
