Trump Moves to Scrap Biden Methane Rule, Says Change Saves $45 Billion

President Donald Trump said Tuesday his administration is “terminating” a Biden-era rule limiting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, claiming the change will save consumers and producers $45 billion and unlock 210 million barrels of oil, the Associated Press reported.

Trump made the announcement at a campaign rally in Texas, where he is stumping for Senate candidate Ken Paxton one week before the Nov. 3 midterms. The 210 million barrels is roughly 10 days of U.S. petroleum consumption.

What changes

The Environmental Protection Agency proposal would roll back requirements that companies fix leaky equipment and regularly check wells for escaping methane, a White House official told Reuters. It would give relief to small, low-output wells, end a program that used outside groups to report large methane leaks and ease rules aimed at phasing out the routine burning of gas at oil wells.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin previewed the changes last month, saying they would eliminate the agency’s “Super Emitter Program.” Zeldin has said the Biden rule would have cost $18 billion and was holding back the energy industry. “The Trump EPA is committed to fixing this so the U.S. can reach its full energy potential,” he said.

Fuel prices and the midterms

The move is the latest in a string of pre-election steps aimed at gasoline prices, which have become a political liability for Republicans amid the war with Iran. Trump’s Texas swing, his third visit this month to boost Paxton, included rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock. Paxton is in a close race with Democrat James Talarico, and The Washington Post also reported on the plan.

The Biden rule

The Biden methane rule was unveiled at the 2023 U.N. climate conference in the United Arab Emirates and finalized in 2024. Unlike earlier regulations, it covered existing wells as well as new ones and required operators to plug leaks at smaller wells that produce about 6% of the nation’s oil and gas but account for up to half of methane emissions from oil and gas fields.

Biden officials projected $98 billion in benefits by 2034, a figure built on the “social cost” of greenhouse gases, a method the Trump EPA rejects. The EPA last year delayed the rule’s inspection requirements by 18 months.

The rule was designed to work alongside a methane fee of up to $1,500 per metric ton created by the 2022 climate law. Congress repealed that fee weeks after Trump took office.

Critics push back

Environmental groups say the rollback lets companies waste gas that could be captured and sold. “It will impose a heavier pollution burden on our front-line communities and make our energy sector less efficient,” said Max Lopez, an attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. The Hill and the Oil & Gas Journal also detailed the plan.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, traps far more heat than carbon dioxide in the short term. Oil and gas operations are its largest industrial source.

The proposal must still go through public comment before it can be finalized. It joins the administration’s revocation of the endangerment finding, lower vehicle fuel-economy standards and a push to repeal power-plant emission limits.

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