Biden-Harris Admin Set To Slap Tax On Methane Emissions

The Biden-Harris administration is set to finalize a tax on methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas producers Tuesday.

President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) mandated a fee on methane emissions, but left many of the details to be decided by the Environmental Protect Agency (EPA), according to Bloomberg. Now, U.S. energy officials are expected to roll out a finalized version of the policy, which reportedly includes a penalty of $900 per metric ton of methane emissions above a government-mandated threshold.

The fee will rise to $1,500 per metric ton of “excess” methane in 2026, and is meant to signal the U.S.’ dedication to combating climate change, according to Bloomberg. The regulation will reportedly be announced at the UN-backed COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan.

A slew of world leaders, including Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opted not to attend this year, with Biden instead sending a delegation of senior energy officials such as White House adviser John Podesta and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Energy companies are expected to push for a rewrite of the policy under the Trump administration, with Anne Bradbury, head of oil and gas trade group the American Exploration and Production Council, telling Bloomberg, “we will work with the new administration to fix the unworkable, infeasible or legally dubious aspects of the last administration’s policy to ensure a durable methane framework moving forward.”

Prior EPA efforts to curb emissions have struggled to get off the ground, with a government program that grants private organizations authority to track methane release events from oil and gas sites still yet to get a single approved third-party participant more than six months after being established, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, a federal initiative that aims to find and plug leaks at energy production facilities could still be two years from being enforced due to a series of reviews ordered by the EPA.

The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.