4/28/21: Not all politicians are alike, as we often note at this blog. The U.S. Senate has voted 52-42 to reinstitute stricter rules to control methane gas emissions. Methane is many times worse when it spews into the atmosphere, related to climate change, than carbon dioxide.
President Obama first passed rules to curb methane emissions. Donald J. Nitwit decided, out of spite, to wipe them from the books.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this spring that methane emissions had spiked higher in 2020 than in any other year since careful measurements were taken.
So, thank you, Donald J. Nitwit.
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Methane gas being vented and burned off in an oil field. |
Even BP and Royal Dutch Shell back the move to restore Obama-era rules, which require companies to check for methane leaks in pipelines, storage tanks and other equipment every six months. If leaks are found, they must be fixed within 30 days.
Today, the House of Representatives also cleared the way for repeal of the repeal of the Obama-era rules.
On a vote of 229-191, with a dozen Republicans voting with Democrats, the move to cut methane emissions passed.
Again.
(The Washington Post cites a figure of 80 times: that is how much more heat can be trapped by methane than carbon dioxide, though this blogger has seen estimates as low as 25 times.)
A separate U.N. report this spring said
cutting methane would be “the strongest lever we have to slow climate change
over the next 25 years.”
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