The changes are designed to save the industry over $208 million a year in compliance costs.
EPA said the final rule responds to several petitions for reconsideration and feedback from industry.
Among the changes, EPA pointed to changes in requirements for flaring natural gas.
EPA said the 2024 Final Rule phased out routine flaring of associated natural gas from new sources, but allowed owners and operators to perform temporary flaring for up to 24 hours in maintenance situations.
However, serious concerns were raised that this limited time frame did not provide enough time for owners and operators to troubleshoot and repair equipment, putting energy reliability for American families and the safety of workers at risk.
Under the Trump EPA’s revisions, owners and operators will now be able to utilize temporary flaring for up to 72 hours.
[Under Pennsylvania regulations, shale gas well bores are only required to be located 500 feet from the nearest homes. DEP has issued permits for 24,555 shale gas wells in the state, as of March 27, 2026]
The Biden EPA’s final rule also required continuous monitoring of the net heating value (NHV) of vent gas from flares and enclosed combustion devices (ECD).
Based on data that has come to light since 2024, today’s action adjusts the NHV monitoring and testing provisions so that owners and operators do not need to perform NHV sampling from flares or ECD, except where inert gases or other miscellaneous scenarios are present.
The final rule also removes the general exemption from NHV monitoring for associated gas for any control device used at well sites affected facilities.
These changes will reduce the number of unnecessary tests by up to 141,000 per year—about 1.9 million over 15 years.
Click Here to read the final rule.
Click Here for the EPA announcement.
Reaction
In response to EPA's announcement, the Environmental Defense Fund released this statement--
“Flaring natural gas wastes a vital energy resource at a time when power bills are already sky high for American families, and is a major source of methane emissions and other dangerous pollution.
"The Trump administration has made it clear that it plans to pursue a broader rollback of existing common-sense protections against methane pollution, in addition to today’s changes.
"These sweeping rollbacks are happening despite recognition among industry leaders that regulations that reduce methane emissions are key to the global competitiveness of U.S. natural gas.
"Unfortunately, today’s step is likely a harbinger of even more drastic and unproductive changes to come.”
“Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a climate super pollutant responsible for about 30% of the warming our planet is experiencing today. Reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is the fastest way to slow down the rate of climate change.”
DEP Developing Implementation Plan
Since EPA adopted the original OOOOb-c oil and gas industry methane reduction rule in March 2024, the Department of Environmental Protection has been developing a plan to submit to EPA to implement the regulation.
DEP held eight hearings on its proposed plan in June and July 2025 to gather public input. Read more here.
On April 24, 2025, DEP told members of DCED’s PA Grade Crude [Oil] Development Advisory Council the agency will continue to develop a program to meet these new requirements as long as the federal regulation is on the books. Read more here.
DEP said it plans to implement and enforce the new EPA requirements through its “existing [Air Quality] plan approval, general permit and operating permit programs” [page 179]
DEP said it intends to develop General Plan Approval/Operating Permits for the crude oil and natural gas source category. [page 179]
DEP said, “The public and other stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed general permits for the conventional and unconventional industry.”
The general permit draft is not included in the plan DEP proposed.
Visit DEP’s OOOOb-c Methane Reduction Plan webpage for more information.
Existing DEP Oil & Gas Methane Rule
The Environmental Quality Board adopted regulations in December 2022 requiring methane pollution reductions from conventional oil and gas facilities in response to a federal rule then in effect.
Conventional well owners challenged the regulations in court and did not have to comply with the requirement to submit a compliance report until a settlement with DEP in April required them to submit their first report by June 1, 2025. Read more here.
DEP reported in November, 2025, more than 99% of the 4,950 conventional oil and gas well owners failed to comply with the reporting requirement. Read more here.
During the process of adopting the 2022 regulations, DEP estimated conventional oil and gas facilities would account for 80 percent of the total methane emission reductions expected under the regulations which covered both conventional and unconventional shale gas facilities. Read more here.
Shale gas facility owners submitted their first reports on June 1, 2024 to cover 2023 emissions as required.
Resource Links:
[Posted: April 6, 2026] PA Environment Digest
No comments :
Post a Comment