Republican lawmakers lashed out Friday against the Obama administration’s proposed rules to regulate natural gas flaring from oil and gas fracking wells, signaling the next round of GOP pushback against the administration’s broad climate agenda.
“The regulation merely checks off an item on the list of priorities for far left national special interest groups in the waning months of this White House,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah. “Though it is getting hard to envision, somewhere there is someone or something the Obama gang doesn’t want to regulate.”
Bishop added that Friday’s proposed rule marks the “latest oppressive” regulation from President Obama, which “will only serve to curb our nation’s energy potential through these duplicative and cost-prohibitive measures.” He said the proposed rule “will further dissuade and expel producers from federal land,” leading to less clean-burning natural gas being produced, which has been credited with the nation’s drop in greenhouse gas emissions.
The new Interior Department rules seek to clamp down on the greenhouse gas methane. The rules would restrict the practice of flaring excess gas produced during oil and gas extraction. These greenhouse gases are blamed by many scientists for causing the Earth’s climate to warm, resulting in more severe weather, droughts, floods and other calamities. The rules would also require cuts in methane emissions from venting and other gas leakages.
The industry responded to the proposal by calling the rules duplicative and burdensome.
Oil and gas groups say they have already been working to cutback on methane emissions as a function of smart business practices. They argue that industry doesn’t want to lose gas that it can easily capture and sell, adding that the new regulations aren’t necessary and will only raise costs. The administration says the proposed rule will help them earn more money.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., an outspoken critic of the president’s suite of energy regulations, also came out in opposition to the Interior Department proposal. “If the administration was sincere about generating additional revenue by reducing natural gas flaring on federal land, it would take steps to help producers ship natural gas to market,” the senator said.
“Instead of embracing these commonsense solutions, this rule discourages production by raising costs at a time when natural gas sells for bargain basement prices,” he said. The low cost of the fuel has been driving a nationwide shift from coal- to gas-fired generated electricity, which has manged to curb emissions.
He called the rule a “thinly veiled” attempt by the Obama administration to drive oil and gas operations off of federal land by making it too cost prohibitive. The Interior Department argues that its flaring rules haven’t been updated for decades, and that the boom in U.S. oil and gas production requires it keep in step with the industry.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., agreed. “This will stymie oil and natural gas development on federal lands, which is the president’s real goal: to keep it in the ground,” he said. “As the markets drop, and America’s saving and retirement portfolios suffer, it’s astonishing that this president would seek to further cripple America’s energy industry.”
Barrasso argues if the agency really wants to be helpful, it should fix its pipeline permitting program. He says the agency has been too focused on renewable energy permitting on federal lands, and has ignored the need for pipelines. It should “use its existing authority to expedite the permitting process for natural gas pipelines on federal land as it has done for renewable energy projects on federal land,” he says. “More pipelines means less flaring and more revenue.”
Barrasso is the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He introduced legislation last year to expedite pipeline development on federal and Indian lands.
