WASHINGTON — The Obama administration Thursday issued a final rule to sharply cut methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas production, a key part of a push by President Barack Obama to reduce methane emissions by nearly half over the next decade.
The Environmental Protection Agency rule is the major element of an administration goal to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling by up to 45 percent by 2025, compared with 2012 levels.
It will require energy producers to find and repair leaks at new or modified oil and gas wells and capture gas that escapes from wells that use the common drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Officials estimate the rule will cost the industry about $530 million in 2025. Those costs would be outweighed by reduced health care costs and other benefits totaling about $690 million, officials estimate.
The mandate, which starts this summer, applies only to new and modified sources, such as wells and pumps, but it will set a framework for the EPA to impose similar requirements on nearly 1 million existing wells.
EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said the new rule would “protect public health and reduce pollution.” The American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said the new rule could harm a drilling boom that has lowered costs for American consumers to heat their homes and drive their cars.
