EPA Ready to Issue Methane Limits for New Oil and Gas Wells

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to issue on Thursday the first federal standards aimed at curbing methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry, according to multiple people familiar with the plan.  The final regulations, which EPA proposed last year, are the latest in a series of rules the Obama administration is pursuing in a broad agenda clamping down on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. The rules are one piece of an administration goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by as much as 45% from their 2012 levels over the next decade.  The rules, which will only affect new oil and natural gas wells, will require companies to install technologies to monitor and limit inadvertent emitting of methane during the production and transmission process of natural gas, whose primary component is methane, and also require new practices, such as regular inspections for leaks.  A spokeswoman for the EPA declined to comment on the rules' release.  Over the past year, the Obama administration has focused increasingly on metha