Oil and gas companies will need to stem the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from their drilling operations on federal and tribal lands under a highly anticipated rule the Biden administration finalized Wednesday.
The rule from the Bureau of Land Management, an arm of the Interior Department, builds on the Biden administration’s broader strategy for tackling methane, which accounts for nearly a third of global warming. Cutting methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow climate change because it traps 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere.
The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled plans for preventing methane leaks from oil and gas wells at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai in December. President Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, also requires oil and gas companies to pay the first-ever federal fee for each metric ton …