Press Release  AG Healey Joins Coalition Vowing Lawsuit Against EPA If Trump Administration Continues to Fail to Regulate Methane Emissions

Boston — Attorney General Maura Healey today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general, the California Air Resources Board and the Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago in notifying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of their intention to sue the Agency if the Trump Administration continues to fail to meet its legal obligation to control methane emissions from existing sources in the oil and natural gas sector.

In June 2016, the EPA promulgated federal Clean Air Act standards to reduce methane emissions from new sources in the oil and natural gas sector (New Source Rule). Last week, AG Healey led a coalition of 14 attorneys general and the City of Chicago in filing a motion to intervene in a lawsuit opposing the EPA’s unlawful June 2017 administrative stay of key portions of the New Source Rule, including provisions requiring pollutant leak detection and repair.

The EPA’s promulgation of the New Source Rule triggered its mandatory obligation under the Clean Air Act to issue guidelines limiting methane emissions from existing sources. The coalition of attorneys general in today’s action intend to sue the EPA unless the Agency promptly remedies its ongoing failure to regulate existing source methane emissions.

“Yet again, President Trump and EPA Administrator Pruitt are putting the interests of the oil and gas industry above the health and safety of the public and our environment,” AG Healey said. “The EPA is legally obligated to regulate these emissions to protect the public and I am continuing to work with my colleagues to hold the EPA accountable and ensure that the agency is protecting residents and taxpayers from air pollution and the rising costs of responding to climate change.”

Joining AG Healey in today’s notice of intent to sue are attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia and the California Air Resources Board and the Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago.

The notice sent today to Administrator Pruitt underscores the urgent need for the EPA to act promptly, since a majority of oil and gas sector methane emissions comes from existing equipment. According to estimates, sources in existence prior to 2012 are expected to be responsible for more than 90 percent of oil and gas sector methane emissions in 2018. However, there are proven cost-effective methods readily available to control methane emissions from existing sources. An analysis from ICF International in 2014 found that the industry could cut methane emissions 40 percent below the projected 2018 levels if they use available technologies and techniques – at an average annual cost of less than $0.01 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas produced. This 40 percent reduction would yield savings of over $100 million per year for the U.S. economy and consumers.

For years, Massachusetts has played a leading role in the fight to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, including leading a coalition of states, in coordination with numerous environmental groups, in the landmark case of Massachusetts v. EPA. In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Massachusetts and concluded that the EPA had authority under existing law to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. 

Massachusetts has been involved for almost five years in support of the issuance and maintenance of regulations regarding new sources of methane emissions. In December 2012, Massachusetts, New York, and five other states notified EPA of their intent to file suit, asserting that the EPA had not complied with its mandatory duty under the Clean Air Act’s New Source Performance Standards to determine whether it is appropriate to regulate methane pollution from the oil and gas sector. Several states, including Massachusetts, also submitted comments on the EPA’s technical white papers regarding sources of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector, including fugitive emissions, commented on the EPA’s proposed New Source Rule, and intervened in litigation to defend the final Rule. The case currently is pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Methane is a particularly powerful agent of climate change; pound-for-pound, methane warms the climate about thirty-four times more than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and on a twenty-year timeframe, has about 86 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. According to the EPA, the oil and gas sector is the largest emitter of methane in the U.S., accounting for a third of total U.S. methane emissions. Based on EPA data, the Environmental Defense Fund estimates that roughly $1.5 billion worth of natural gas – enough to heat over 5 million homes – leaks or is intentionally released from the oil and gas supply chain each year.  The logic of continuing to allow leaks and intentional discharges of methane is especially dubious, as methane itself is a valuable product, being the primary component of natural gas.  

This case is being led for Massachusetts by Melissa A. Hoffer, Chief of AG Healey’s Energy and Environment Bureau, and Assistant Attorney General Peter C. Mulcahy, also of AG Healey’s Energy and Environment Bureau.

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