Fighting government overregulation is good policy and good politics. The key word, however, is “over.” It is not regulation itself that is evil, but rather regulation that distorts market forces, adds unnecessary red tape, or fails to provide any serious benefit.
Lots of regulations fall into that category, but many don’t, including some environmental regulations that the Trump administration has recently cut or is in the process of cutting.
The administration has targeted the new rules regulating the release of methane into the atmosphere, which were drafted at the very end of the Obama administration. The rule mandates that companies test for emissions leaks every six months and then fix them within thirty days — a seemingly reasonable regulation. Methane leaks are a very real problem. A recent study published in Science found that the EPA has underestimated the frequency of leaks by about 60 percent.
Under a leaked (no pun intended) proposal, the Environmental Protection Agency would loosen those requirements, allowing for less frequent inspections — in some cases as few as one every two years — and giving companies twice as long to fix the leaks they find. The proposal would also allow companies to follow the less stringent regulations in states where state and federal laws conflict.
It’s not hard to understand the impact of these changes: It will take longer to catch methane leaks, and companies will have longer to repair those leaks, meaning that more methane will end up in the atmosphere.
More methane in the atmosphere has real and serious consequences. Even Scott Wheeler and the companies pushing for the change recognize that — that’s why even the new proposal mandates inspections and fixes. Methane is about 25 times more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. And although it makes up a fraction of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it has an outsized impact due to the high amount of heat it traps.
By loosening restrictions on methane leaks, the EPA is essentially cutting big oil and gas companies a check (saving money on inspections and repairs) at the expense of everyone else — and possibly the future of the planet.
Forcing companies to fix leaks of dangerous emissions is not overregulation; it’s regulation and good regulation at that.
