Oil and gas giant Shell lent its support Wednesday to an effort by Democrats to use a procedural tool to cancel a Trump administration action that would essentially block the Environmental Protection Agency from controlling methane emissions from fossil fuel production.
European-based Shell became the first oil major to endorse a resolution introduced by Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, to use the Congressional Review Act to scrap the Trump administration methane rollback.
The resolution is co-sponsored by more than a dozen other senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“We urge Congress to approve the methane resolution under the Congressional Review Act,” Shell’s U.S. division wrote in a Twitter post.
Environmentalists said Shell’s endorsement could encourage other big oil companies to do the same.
“It’s good to see Shell support the methane CRA, and we expect more companies to follow soon,” said Ben Ratner, senior director with the Environmental Defense Fund+Business. “Reinstating methane regulation is a no-brainer for cutting emissions, addressing investor ESG concerns, and supporting the global competitiveness of American natural gas.”
The CRA allows both chambers of Congress to pass a joint resolution to end recently implemented regulations, requiring only a simple majority vote from the Senate, so they can be fast-tracked to come to the floor. Congress must vote on CRA resolutions by mid-May.
The Trump EPA action that King and Heinrich are targeting limited the agency’s ability to regulate methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas facilities directly.
The Trump administration removed requirements that oil and gas drillers monitor, detect, and repair leaks of methane. Instead, oil and gas operators would only be required to curb emissions of related pollutants called volatile organic compounds.
Oil and gas trade groups such as the American Petroleum Institute cheered the action at the time, while individual majors such as BP and Shell criticized the move. Since President Joe Biden’s election, API and several other oil lobby groups have shifted their position to support direct regulation of methane from their operations. API, however, has not weighed in on Democrats’ move to cancel the Trump methane rollback through the CRA.
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Biden has promised aggressive methane regulations as part of his climate agenda.
