EPA no longer requires reporting of methane emissions.

[Stonepounder]

EPA Scraps Rule Requiring Oil And Gas Industry To Report Methane Pollution

In May, the Environmental Protect Agency issued a new rule requiring oil and gas companies to report what equipment they use and how much methane ― a greenhouse gas 40 times more potent than carbon dioxide ― their drilling sites emit.

On Thursday, the agency’s newly sworn-in administrator, Scott Pruitt, scrapped a regulation deemed crucial to cutting planet-warming emissions as part of the Paris climate deal.

The decision, one of Pruitt’s first since the Senate narrowly confirmed his nomination last month, underscores the former Oklahoma attorney general’s deep, friendly ties to an industry he’s now tasked with policing. The move comes days after The Huffington Post reported on the White House’s proposal to slash a quarter of the EPA’s budget and pink-slip 1 in 5 agency employees.

“By taking this step, EPA is signaling that we take these concerns seriously and are committed to strengthening our partnership with the states,” Pruitt said in a statement. “Today’s action will reduce burdens on businesses while we take a closer look at the need for additional information from this industry.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-methane-rule-reversal_us_58b88f81e4b05cf0f3ff242e?aclisz1i1klhxgvi&

I can remember back when I was a kid, the Cuyahoga river in NE Ohio used to catch fire because it was so polluted. I guess that's what Trump wants for the whole country. Although it could be more interesting if they release enough methane and the atmosphere catches fire instead.

[Farmgirl1961]

1. The reality is that this is really going to end up hurting the US economy

I am pure environmentalist and view what the Trump administration is doing as nothing more than raping the country. While he and his cronies deny climate change and try to roll back environmental regulations to protect human health and the environment, the rest of the world is charging full speed ahead into the carbon-reducing economy. While we flail backwards, the rest of the world is moving ahead, developing technologies to reduce CO2 and methane emissions and figuring out how to live in a more sustainable way. So, the US companies will continue to lose their edge and will fall further and further behind. In the future we'll have to import wind turbines, solar panels, biomass facilities, etc. as we won't be even close to competitive in the market place. It seems to me the Republicans would get this, from purely an economic perspective....

[herding cats]

2. A hat tip to fracking from this administration.

Some people in the US are about to get a crash course in how different the two parties really are.