EPA cracks down on 'ideologically driven regulations'
While environmental groups deride methane as a “super pollutant” because it traps 25 times as much heat as CO2, its climate impact is inconsequential. It is 200 times more dilute in the atmosphere as CO2 and is emitted at 1/200th the rate of CO2. Even if the U.S. eliminated all its methane emissions by 2050, climate models estimate that the effect on average global temperature by 2100 would be 0.03°C. This change is nearly one-fifth the size of the error range of global temperature measurements—and irrelevant within the context of expected temperature rises of 1°C or greater.
The significance of the new standards is that they rescind the direct regulation of methane, and only regulate emissions of volatile organic compounds. The EPA will now be required to determine that methane significantly contributes to air pollution that harms human health and welfare before regulating it, per the requirements...