EPS and Department of Energy announce $850 million to reduce methane pollution from oil and gas sector

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy announced $850 million for 43 projects that will help small oil and gas operators, tribes and other entities across the country to reduce, monitor, measure and quantify methane. emissions from the oil and gas sector.

This investment will encourage near-term actions by companies to conserve valuable energy resources for U.S. consumers, improve operational efficiencies in a global market, and reduce methane emissions, the EPA said.

By mitigating existing air pollution and supporting small oil and gas operators, the projects will help reduce methane emissions through available and innovative technologies. Additionally, they will create partnerships to improve emissions measurement and provide transparent data to affected communities. A tribal consortium,

11 universities and 20 private companies have been selected for projects across the country to deploy and test new and existing methane mitigation technologies.

Three projects will help the country’s small operators significantly reduce methane emissions from low-production oil and gas operations, using commercially available technology solutions.

Thirty-one projects will accelerate the deployment of early-stage commercial technology solutions to reduce methane emissions from new and existing equipment.

Four projects will improve communities’ access to empirical emissions data and their participation in methane emissions monitoring.

Five projects will improve the detection and measurement of methane emissions from oil and gas operations regionally, according to the EPA.