The Obama administration laid out a blueprint Wednesday for the first regulations to cut down on methane emissions from new natural gas wells, aiming to curb the discharge of a potent greenhouse gas by roughly half. The White House set a new target for the U.S. to cut methane emissions by 40% to 45% by 2025, compared to 2012 levels. Methane, which leaks during production of natural gas, has grown as a concern for environmentalists amid the ongoing boom in drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. The key details – how the regulations will affect industry’s bottom line and how deeply they’ll reduce greenhouse gases – won’t come until the government formally proposes the rule. That won’t come until later this year, with plans to finalize it in 2016. The oil and gas industry insist such rules aren’t necessary because methane emissions are already on the decline, and say gas producers are already working to reduce methane leakage.
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