PA Environment Digest Blog: Guest Essay: Federal EPA Rollbacks Mean Pennsylvania Must Take The Lead On Cutting Methane Pollution From Oil & Gas Operations

By Melissa Ostroff, Earthworks

This guest essay first appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on July 30, 2025--

Methane may be invisible to the naked eye, but its impact on Pennsylvania communities is clear.

As a certified thermographer with Earthworks, I’ve used an optical gas imaging camera to document methane pollution from oil and gas infrastructure across 18 Pennsylvania counties.

What I’ve seen in my fieldwork makes one thing certain: Pennsylvania needs a strong and durable plan to implement the EPA’s methane safeguards and defend Pennsylvanians from the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks.

Over 1.2 million people in our state live within half a mile of an active oil or gas site.

That means they’re regularly exposed not just to methane, but to dangerous copollutants like benzene, which are known to increase risks for cancer, respiratory illness, and other serious health issues.

Children, seniors, and low-income families are especially vulnerable.

Critically, many of the so-called marginal wells in Pennsylvania, often cited as too small to regulate, are owned by large companies with the means to invest in basic leak detection and repairs.

These sites need to be part of any comprehensive methane strategy.

Pennsylvania has the chance to create good-paying jobs, clean up its aging oil and gas infrastructure, and help fight the climate crisis — all by implementing a strong methane plan that withstands potential changes on the federal level.

To ensure Pennsylvania’s forthcoming methane standards remain in effect even if the EPA rule is rolled back, the state Department of Environmental Protection should ground its plan in its state-based legal authority — the power DEP has been given through Pennsylvania law to make its own regulations, independent of federal directives.

A strong state plan would safeguard significant advances laid out by the EPA in 2023 and tailor the plan to Pennsylvania’s specific needs by expanding the types of facilities that get the most frequent and rigorous inspections; requiring quarterly instrument-based leak monitoring at more well sites; and ensuring fast repair timelines for leaks.

The plan should also supplement the EPA’s Super Emitter Program by creating a process for DEP to use new satellite data to reduce methane pollution and connect impacted residents with necessary methane monitoring and public health resources.

Additionally, a strong plan would ensure that flaring from gas wells is allowed only in cases where the operator submits proof that there is no feasible alternative.

This is a pivotal moment. Heat waves, wildfires, and floods are growing more frequent, impacting us here in Philadelphia, while frontline communities across Pennsylvania’s shale fields are breathing in toxic fumes on a daily basis.

Our state must not treat the EPA rule as the ceiling, but the floor.

It is time for Gov. Josh Shapiro and the DEP to make Pennsylvania a leader in methane reduction today — for the health of our families, our communities, and our future.

Melissa Ostroff is a public health professional, environmental advocate, and certified optical gas imaging thermographer with Earthworks.

Resource Links - Comments On DEP Methane Reduction Plan:

-- Shale Gas Industry VP Attacks Credibility Of A Mom And Allegheny County Resident For Comments She Submitted In Support Of DEP Plan To Reduce Methane Emissions From The Oil & Gas Industry [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Patrice Tomcik, Mother, Butler County Resident And Moms Clean Air Force Member [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Kim Anderson, Evangelical Environmental Network - Rager Mountain Leak Of 1.1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Sarah Hertweck, Indiana Township Supervisor - ‘I See Up Close How Hobbled We Are By The State To Make The Best Choices For Our Community’ [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Rachel Meyer, Mother, Beaver County Resident - My Home Is Near A Natural Gas Compressor Station, 8 Shale Gas Well Pads, And The Shell Petrochemical Plant Is In My County [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Barbara Jarmoska, 77 Year Resident Lycoming County - The Degradation Is ‘Shocking And Tragic’ [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Methane Pollution Reduction Testimony: Vanessa Lynch, Mother, Allegheny County Resident - Its Been 5 Years Since A Grand Jury Report Said Pennsylvania Failed To Protect Families From Fracking, Let's Right Past Failures [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 26 to August 1- Coterra Contaminates 13 More Water Wells; Shale Driller Fails To Restore 16 Well Sites; Dewatering Abandoned Impoundment Halted; Another Pipeline Construction Spill [PaEN]

-- Coterra Energy Fined $299,000 For Contaminating 13 Private Water Supplies In Lenox Twp., Susquehanna County - Just A Few Miles From Dimock [PaEN]