Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
EPARulemakingEPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317

Standards of Performance for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Oil and Natural Gas Sector Climate Review

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Jul 23, 2025
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closed 693d ago
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filings
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Activity

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed 4 comments on this docket between Feb 3, 2022 and Feb 21, 2023. 188 other organizations filed here. The comment window closed 693d ago.

What Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed (4)

Feb 21, 2023· Mass Comment Campaign sponsored by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). (web)· EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317-2479

Dear EPA Administrator Regan, Please accept these 20,608 public comments from members and online activists of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) applauding your agency for issuing a new proposal to reduce methane and urging you to finalize the strongest possible safeguards to cut methane from the oil and gas industry. With over 80 times the warming power of carbon, methane is a huge threat to our climate. Methane is the second-biggest driver of climate change after carbon dioxide. And the oil and gas sector are the largest industrial source of methane emissions. Methane pollution from the fossil fuel industry is accelerating the pace of climate change and harming the health of our families and communities across the country. EPA's recent proposal is a major step in the right direction, but there is more work to be done. Please finalize strong methane standards that: * Ensure that well operators capture associated gas and limit flaring to protect the safety of our communities * Address emissions from storage tanks by making the standards applicable to more tanks * Provide a clear pathway for communities and residents to access data and technologies to help reduce methane and other pollutants in the areas where we live and work We are counting on your agency to quickly address these concerns, and to finalize strong, comprehensive rules to cut methane pollution from the oil and gas sector to protect our health and avert the worst impacts of climate change. Thank you.

Feb 14, 2023· Comment submitted by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)· EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317-2246

Please see attached: comments of the Natural Resources Defense Council on EPA External Review Draft of Report on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases: Estimates Incorporating Recent Scientific Advances (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317)

Jan 19, 2023· Comment submitted by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)· EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317-1633

Attached is NRDC's statement at the public hearing January 10, 2023. I abridged this statement in my oral presentation. The full statement is attached. NRDC, together with others, will comment further in writing by the end of the comment period. David Doniger Senior Strategic Director Climate and Clean Energy Program Natural Resources Defense Council 1152 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 202-289-2403 ddoniger@nrdc.org

Feb 3, 2022· Mass Comment Campaign sponsored by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). (web)· EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317-0999

Dear Administrator Regan & EPA officials: Please accept these 24,534 public comments from members and online activists of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) requesting the EPA to strengthen its proposal for industrial methane emissions to ensure EPA is protecting frontline communities from pollution, safeguarding public health, holding oil and gas companies accountable, and acting on climate. First, we want to thank you for everything you've done to combat the climate crisis. We'd also like to thank you for your proposal to reduce methane pollution from our largest industrial source: the oil & gas industry. However, your current methane proposal isn't strong enough to do what's needed to tackle the climate crisis. Methane poses a grave danger to our planet. It has over 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide, making it a major driver of climate change, and most of that pollution is coming from oil and gas industrial facilities. To strengthen your methane proposal, EPA first should eliminate the industry's dangerous practice of routinely burning off the gas—flaring—that sends climate and health-harming pollution straight into the air. Second, EPA should require more frequent monitoring of small but highly polluting wells, so that leaks can be quickly found and fixed. These provisions must be included before the proposal is finalized to ensure EPA is protecting frontline communities from pollution, safeguarding public health, holding oil and gas companies accountable, and acting on climate in a responsible and timely manner. Thank you.

Abstract

On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order titled ‘Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,’ which directs the EPA to propose a rulemaking to reduce methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in the oil and natural gas sector by suspending, revising, or rescinding the previously issued new source performance standards (NSPS) and propose new regulations to establish standards of performance for methane and VOC emissions from the exploration and production, transmission, processing, and storage segments by September 2021. The EO also directs the EPA to propose new regulations to establish emission guidelines for methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from existing operations in the exploration and production, transmission, processing, and storage segments by September 2021. The purpose of this action is to review the existing NSPS and propose new requirements and propose new emission guidelines for existing sources in order to meet the requirements set forth in the Executive Order.

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Standards of Performance for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Oil and Natural Gas Sector Climate Review (EPA) — Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) | OpenPolis