A rule known as the Waste Emissions Charge, planned by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), would require oil and gas companies to pay a fine after exceeding a certain amount of methane emissions. The measure was embedded in the Clean Air Act.
Attorney General Drummond joined a coalition in a lawsuit filed in January against the Biden administration in its final days, stating the rule exceeds the agency’s authority.
“This unlawful and egregious tax is a last-ditch effort by the Biden Administration to once again attack our oil and gas industry,” Drummond said in a news release. “We must put an end to these antics once and for all.”
Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, contributes to climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere. Like carbon dioxide, the gas comes from natural and human activities, though 60% is from industries like oil and gas, NASA scientists estimate. Concentrations of methane account for more than 20% of the earth’s climate warming, the administration states.
Companies that emit more than their allotted amount would be fined $900 per metric ton, based on reported emissions in 2024. That number would jump to $1,200 in 2025 and $1,500 in 2026.
Kara-Joy McKee, the director of Oklahoma’s Sierra Club chapter, disagreed with the opposition to the filing, saying it makes sense for oil and gas companies to pay for contributing to climate change.
“Here we have oil and gas making record profits, and methane is the low-hanging fruit when it comes to climate change,” she said. “That's something we can clean up relatively inexpensively. And it's the kind of thing where we can expect an industry to be a good neighbor.”
“These are our friends and family in Oklahoma who work for oil and gas, and they can chip in to clean up their own mess,” she added.
It is unclear how long a review of the law would take or if President-elect Donald Trump’s administration plans to weaken the rules.
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