By Jon Goldstein and Dan Mueller Water is New Mexico’s most precious and limited resource, but new rules proposed by the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission (NMOCC) fall short in efforts to better protect it. In the face of increasing temperatures and shrinking water supplies, the state needs to be doing more – not less […]

Yesterday morning at Chevron’s annual general meeting, a shareholder resolution calling on the company to improve its methane management and disclosure received a 45% vote. This strong vote follows a majority vote at Range Resources, where 50.3% of voting shareholders supported a similar methane disclosure resolution (up from just 20% in 2013). Oil and gas industry shareholders […]

This blog was co-authored by Rosalie Winn EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt did not waste any time after being confirmed to start attacking EPA’s oil and gas methane pollution rules. However, in the 14 months since lodging his first assault, a lot has changed, and the case for keeping the standards robust and intact is stronger […]

“It’s so clean I’d drink it.” Travel to any recent conference or trade show on produced water management and there’s a good chance you’ll hear this line or something similar. I’ve heard it myself, alongside claims that a patented treatment delivers water that’s “fresh” or “meets drinking water standards.” This sort of talk is on […]

Recently, some in the oil and gas industry have expressed questions about an EDF analysis that estimates methane emissions in Pennsylvania to be five times higher than what companies report to the state. Pennsylvania is the nation’s second largest producer of natural gas. Understanding how much methane and other harmful pollutants may be leaking from […]

As the deadline for applications for OGCI Climate Investments Venture Day approaches, I had the opportunity to ask OGCI Climate Investments CEO, Dr. Pratima Rangarajam, a few questions to understand more about their plans for Venture Day and what opportunities exist for companies with technologies or business models for methane detection, measurement, and mitigation to […]

Last September, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) started a conversation on resilience, asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to provide new revenues and guaranteed profits to the owners of old, inefficient coal and nuclear power plants to compensate these resources for certain reliability and (undefined) resilience attributes. FERC swiftly disposed of that proposal […]

Oil and gas investor pressure is building, with 20 climate shareholder resolutions up for review at annual meetings held by publicly-traded energy companies this month. While the climate filings cover a range of issues, improved methane management is in the mix. Last year was a breakout year for methane investor activism. ExxonMobil’s XTO Energy subsidiary business announced […]

This blog was co-authored by Jon Goldstein and Colin Leyden. What may be becoming the world’s largest oil field may also be the world’s largest test for the oil and gas industry’s commitments to setting targets for driving down methane emissions. Several major oil and gas producers, including BP and XTO, have announced strategies in […]

Over the past months more than 400,000 Americans weighed in on a proposal by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to gut the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Methane and Natural Gas Waste Prevention Rule. And more than 98 percent of the comments received urged BLM to keep the strong rule in place to force […]

This blog was co-authored by Tim O'Connor and Ellison Folk, an Environmental Attorney at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger. California utilities finally have a set of plans to cut methane leakage from the state’s natural gas pipelines. This is good news, but there are still a handful of improvements that could help make the state’s gas […]

Last night, Canada finalized new national regulations on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, its largest methane polluter. The rules are among the most comprehensive in the world, putting Canada on a clear path toward its 40 to 45 percent methane reduction goal, and delivering on a critical element of the Canadian climate […]

With upcoming annual meetings full of shareholder resolutions calling on companies to set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, EDF released "Taking Aim", a new paper explaining why methane targets are the next frontier for the oil and gas industry and establishing five keys for strong targets. The paper explains how companies that set targets are […]

The American Lung Association released its annual State of the Air Report today, revealing what many communities have known for quite some time: air pollution from oil and gas operations is a growing concern. Air pollution has often been a challenge for highly-populated areas of the United States, but it is an issue rural communities […]

As part of its Energy Transition report, BP announced a stringent new quantitative target to address its emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas pollutant. Effective immediately, BP will target limiting methane emissions from its global upstream oil and gas operations that market natural gas to 0.2 percent. Ben Ratner, Senior Director with EDF+Business, sat […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its annual update to the 2016 U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGI) yesterday, showing a slight decrease in total greenhouse gas emissions from 2015 to 2016. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas and the main constituent of natural gas, is responsible for roughly a quarter of global warming […]

When a kid knocks at your door, you might expect a Girl Scout selling cookies or a Boy Scout selling popcorn. But recently, it was my 13 year-old neighbor, Pete Bates, asking me to sign a letter to fight methane pollution. I thought this was pretty neat, because while my day-to-day job is focused on […]

A new study from the Western Regional Air Partnership — a collaboration of state, tribal, and local air agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, federal land managers, and other local stakeholders — finds methane emissions from New Mexico’s oil and gas facilities are higher than previous estimates and notes regulations could help address the problem. The […]

This post is part 5 of EDF’s Tech for Change series, which aims to spotlight the way pollution-sensing technology can protect public health and the environment in California. Watch part 4. Pollution from oil and gas production can pose serious health risks to nearby communities. In Los Angeles, nearly 600,000 people live within ½ mile […]

Last year, oil and gas companies in North Dakota flared over $220 million worth of natural gas. That’s enough to heat over 1 million homes and meet North Dakotans’ heating needs seven times over.* It was also enough to convince the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC), an industry coalition, to reconvene its flaring task force. […]