14 February 2023- The multistate coalition, including Attorney General Brown, has submitted comments in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) supplemental proposal to regulate methane emissions from existing facilities in the oil and natural gas sector. The coalition has identified additional ways to strengthen the proposal and argues that the proposal takes critical steps towards curbing climate change and advancing environmental justice.
The EPA estimates that the proposed supplemental proposal will reduce emissions of methane, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous air pollutants between 2023 and 2035. Methane is a super pollutant that is up to 83 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat in the atmosphere, and the production, processing, transmission, and storage of oil and natural gas are the largest single industrial source of methane emissions in the U.S.
The coalition includes the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the City of Chicago.
