Federal Court Orders EPA to Move Ahead With Rule to Limit Methane
Source: NBC News
WASHINGTON A federal appeals court in Washington ruled Monday that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped his authority by trying to delay implementing a new rule requiring oil and gas companies to monitor and reduce methane leaks.
In a split decision, the three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the EPA to move forward with the Obama-era requirement, which aims to reduce planet-warming emissions from oil and gas operations.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced in April that he would delay by 90 days the deadline for oil and gas companies to follow the new rule so the agency could reconsider the measure. The American Petroleum Institute, the Texas Oil and Gas Association and other industry groups had petitioned Pruitt to scrap the requirement, which had been set to take effect in June.
Last month, Pruitt announced that he intended to extend the 90-day stay for two years. A coalition of six environmental groups opposed the delay in court, urging the appeals judges to block Pruitt's decision.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-court-orders-epa-move-ahead-rule-limit-methane-n779396
A victory for Obama's climate regulation!
Sparky 1
(400 posts)ailsagirl
(22,896 posts)Hope so
Gothmog
(145,168 posts)truthisfreedom
(23,146 posts)in the atmosphere.
"The Environmental Protection Agency uses a statistic called Global Warming Potential (GWP) to assess the threat posed by various greenhouse gases. GWP measures how much heat one molecule of a gas will trap relative to a molecule of carbon dioxide. Methane has a GWP of 21, which means it's 21 times more effective at preventing infrared radiation from escaping the planet. So, although methane emissions may be relatively piddling, they're definitely a cause for concern. (Their one saving grace is an atmospheric lifetime of just 12 years, versus between 50 and 200 years for carbon dioxide.)"
Lots more info here: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2007/11/the_other_greenhouse_gases.html
SergeStorms
(19,199 posts)that methane emissions are "piddling". The Arctic permafrost is thawing at an unbelievable rate, and with that, methane is being introduced to the atmosphere more rapidly than ever expected. This is a H-U-G-E problem, and is going to increase the rising sea level rates exponentially. The U.N.'s projections of a one meter rise in sea level by 2100 have been shown to be laughable (IF it was actually funny!). Leading Scientists now say increased sea levels could be as much as 5-7 meters in the same time span. That means most of Florida is under water, kiss New Orleans goodbye, the Outer Banks....gone, ANY low lying coastal City around the world is in peril. This isn't any joke, and Donnie Numb-Nuts can fiddle around all he wants, but Science is going to show the world how wrong the idiots in the Republican party really are. Not that there's any solace to be taken from being correct about this. We're still going to have to cope with water up to our assholes.