Obama vs. Climate Change: Round Two

By Rebecca Leber

Last year, the Obama administration proposed the country's first-ever regulations on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, an important step in tackling the largest sources of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Now comes the second big stage of President Barack Obama’s climate strategy, which is no less important to drive down pollution. That finally came Wednesday, after months of anticipation. The White House announced its goal of cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as much as 45 percent over 2012 levels by 2025.

It's a strong goal. The question is whether the strategy the White House outlined will do enough to get there. 

The White House plan combines voluntary and regulatory actions, and cuts across the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA this summer will announce its first rules to target methane directly, under the same Clean Air Act authority under Section 111 that forms the legal basis for last year's carbon pollution regulations. Also this year, the Department of Transportation will propose updated natural gas pipeline safety standards and the Department of Interior will release standards for venting and flaring on public lands. 

The spike in oil and gas production in America has made it impossible to ignore methane, the second-worst offender in greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas is almost entirely composed of the colorless, odorless gas, and the sector is America's largest source of methane emissions. Per 2012 EPA data, methane accounts for 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But methane's ability to trap heat makes it potentially more dangerous than carbon dioxide. The White House says methane emissions from the oil and gas sector are on track to rise more than 25 percent by 2025, without new regulations. Lowering methane is crucial to meeting Obama's pledges to reduce greenhouse gasses 17 percent by 2020 and 28 percent by 2025. To reach international goals of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, the United States ideally would cut its pollution even more. 

Is the new plan enough to do it? Not yet, but that doesn't mean Obama can't and won't go further.

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