Trump admin. announces plan to kill 2016 methane emissions limits

EPA also seeks "alternative interpretations" of law letting it limit pollutants.

Read the whole story

 

[Alyeska]

At this point its like the EPA is being run by Captain Planet villains. Deliberately poisoning the environment not to make money, but to be pointlessly cruel for the sake of villainy.

 

[BradTheGeek]

At this point its like the EPA is being run by Captain Planet villains. Deliberately poisoning the environment not to make money, but to be pointlessly cruel for the sake of villainy.

Oh they are making plenty of money. That is still the prime motivator.

 

[AustinAllan]

The EPA today is a parody of what it was created to do. Instead of protecting the environment the current political appointees main priority is protecting polluting industry. Ironic that the EPA was created by the Nixon administration with support from the Republican party.

 

[ChosenName]

It's one of the greenhouse gases - what could possibly go wrong with removing a limit on its emission?

 

[Snark218]

The fucked-up thing is, this probably won't even actually save the gas companies any money - they've already invested in the equipment.

 

[graylshaped]

If we want to reduce pointless government action, I propose replacing the current President, and suggest we all get together on November 3, 2020 and make that happen.


edit: checks off the beedee box on my bingo card. Thank you!

 

[ThePetabyte]

Environmental Pollution Agency

 

[msawzall]

alternative interpretations - to lie or deceive to achieve a hidden goal
See also: alternative facts, Kellyanne Conway

 

[balrog_of_morgoth]

This administration run by cabal of hooligans is dead set on destroying the planet and all the (non-white & poor) people in it!

If 2020 does not kick these idiots out, we are doomed. And, even then, it will take decades to reverse all the damage done in such a short period of time.

 

[arcite]

Natural gas prices in the US (and much of the world) are at historic lows. There is so much over-supply. Ergo, there are no regulatory burdens on oil/gas companies, they've never produced so much.

 

[Sotofede]

This is infuriating.

 

[Snark218]

Environmental Pollution Agency

I mean, in fairness, there's a lot of good people doing great work there, still. I worked for the agency under Bush II, and while the morale sucked, people were still fighting the good fight. But when the administrator is full of fuck, it's hard.

 

[Nowicki]

"The increased emissions would also result in a loss to "total present value of climate benefits" between $2.3 million and $8.1 million per year, the EPA says. The removal of methane emissions caps would, however, save the oil and natural gas sector $17-$19 million per year"

Exxon Mobil had a negative tax rate for 2016 and a refund due of $406 million.

If we roll back taxes to the point where companies are getting hundreds of millions in returns, getting hundreds of millions in subsidies, and we are gutting regulations to save them tens of millions more money. When do we stop winning?

 

[Snark218]

"The increased emissions would also result in a loss to "total present value of climate benefits" between $2.3 million and $8.1 million per year, the EPA says. The removal of methane emissions caps would, however, save the oil and natural gas sector $17-$19 million per year"

Exxon Mobil had a negative tax rate for 2016 and a refund due of $406 million.

If we roll back taxes to the point where companies are getting hundreds of millions in returns, getting hundreds of millions in subsidies, and we are gutting regulations to save them tens of millions more money. When do we stop winning?

The purest possible example of socializing the risks and privatizing the benefits. Total market failure.

 

[Baron von Robber]

Environmental Protection Pollution Agency

 

[ripfire4]

The EPA today is a parody of what it was created to do. Instead of protecting the environment the current political appointees main priority is protecting polluting industry. Ironic that the EPA was created by the Nixon administration with support from the Republican party.

EPA is now Effectively Polluted Agency.

 

[CraigJ ✅]

Republicans seem bound and determined to leave a blighted shithole of a world for their grandchildren. So much for the party of family values.

 

[henryhbk]

So not to point out the obvious but methane is actually worth something (i.e. it's a product we all buy if you buy gas for your house, etc), so if they are allowed to leak gas that we all subsidized them mining, they are actually throwing my money away into the atmosphere. And even worse likely pass along the loss of product to the customers. So how is this at all economically good. I mean I get that these guys work hard to enrich politicians, particularly republicans, but how is this not super obvious...

 

[HiroTheProtagonist]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR58heUGkNA

20 years later, it's still relevant.

 

[tmt]

Oh the irony, Nixon must be spinning in his grave.

 

[Snark218]

Republicans seem bound and determined to leave a blighted shithole of a world for their grandchildren. So much for the party of family values.

I don't think they have any values anymore, beyond pwning libs in the most short-sighted, tactical fashion. That's the only reason this regulation could possibly exist - to make a point. They've also started carrying water for authoritarian command-economy policies and tariffs, so they're sure not the business friendly party anymore either.

 

[puppies]

Republicans seem bound and determined to leave a blighted shithole of a world for their grandchildren. So much for the party of family values.

Yeah, but fossil fuel executives will have a bit of extra pocket change so it's worth it.

 

[Snark218]

So not to point out the obvious but methane is actually worth something (i.e. it's a product we all buy if you buy gas for your house, etc), so if they are allowed to leak gas that we all subsidized them mining, they are actually throwing my money away into the atmosphere. And even worse likely pass along the loss of product to the customers. So how is this at all economically good. I mean I get that these guys work hard to enrich politicians, particularly republicans, but how is this not super obvious...

The equipment to comply with methane emissions requirement is probably more expensive than the methane they'd save in the short term, and of course nobody involved here is thinking past November 2020.

 

[CraigJ ✅]

Republicans seem bound and determined to leave a blighted shithole of a world for their grandchildren. So much for the party of family values.

I don't think they have any values anymore, beyond pwning libs in the most short-sighted, tactical fashion. That's the only reason this regulation could possibly exist - to make a point. They've also started carrying water for authoritarian command-economy policies and tariffs, so they're sure not the business friendly party anymore either.

Plus, apparently they want to start illegally confiscating land so dear leader can build his glorious wall.

 

[t_newt]

Here's a global methane flaring heat map video:
https://skytruth.org/viirs/

You can see North Dakota sticking out like a sore thumb--very bright heat spot due to burning off of 'unwanted' gas. There are other hotspots around the world.

It would be nice if they could just collect this wasted gas and ship it to the other states with high energy costs. I suppose it could be worse--instead of burning it they could just release it straight into to the atmosphere. Oh, right, that is exactly what Trump is proposing.

 

[Runt8]

Fuck you Republicans.

 

[thrillgore]

I just want this to end.

 

[LosAngelesPandas]

There’s what I think is a Cree proverb that goes something like only when the last fish is caught and the last river runs dry will we realize money isn’t edible.

We’re almost there. I have to laugh at stuff like this because otherwise every fiber of my being is furious at what a joke this whole administration is. A very bad one at that.

 

[thrillhouse]

I keep waiting for the headline to read "Trump admin. announces plan to kill everyone and everything"

 

[ewelch]

They're just getting started. When the next director of the EPA Richard "BTK" Raider takes the helm, he's going to really come up with new and innovative ways to cull the population (that he doesn't want to handle himself).

 

[arcite]

I keep waiting for the headline to read "Trump admin. announces plan to kill everyone and everything"

40% of voters would approve of the plan.

 

[Papageno]

Between this Administration doing things like this, jailing asylum-seeking families with kids and fomenting trade wars, and the current Brazilian government allowing the Amazon rain forest to get fucked up, plus India making Kashmir a prison camp and China "reeducating" the Uighurs and microsurveilling/controlling the rest of their population, we're right on schedule for the hellish mid-21st Century dystopias formerly only of science fiction's imagination.

 

[dmsilev]

From the NY Times coverage of this story:

Larger energy companies have invested millions of dollars to promote natural gas as a cleaner option than coal in the nation’s power plants, because natural gas produces about half as much carbon dioxide when burned. They fear that unrestricted leaks of methane could undermine that marketing message, hurting demand.

Exxon wrote to the E.P.A. last year urging the agency to maintain core elements of the Obama-era policy. And earlier this year, Gretchen Watkins, the United States chairwoman for Shell, said the E.P.A. should impose rules “that will both regulate existing methane emissions but also future methane emissions.”

Susan Dio, the chairwoman and president of BP America, wrote an op-ed article in March saying that regulating methane is the “right thing to do for the planet” and for the natural gas industry. “To maximize the climate benefits of gas — and meet the dual challenge of producing more energy with fewer emissions — we need to address its Achilles’ heel and eliminate methane emissions,” she wrote.

When Exxon and BP are like "dude, too much"...

(see also: automakers and mileage standards)

 

[LosAngelesPandas]

From the NY Times coverage of this story:

Larger energy companies have invested millions of dollars to promote natural gas as a cleaner option than coal in the nation’s power plants, because natural gas produces about half as much carbon dioxide when burned. They fear that unrestricted leaks of methane could undermine that marketing message, hurting demand.

Exxon wrote to the E.P.A. last year urging the agency to maintain core elements of the Obama-era policy. And earlier this year, Gretchen Watkins, the United States chairwoman for Shell, said the E.P.A. should impose rules “that will both regulate existing methane emissions but also future methane emissions.”

Susan Dio, the chairwoman and president of BP America, wrote an op-ed article in March saying that regulating methane is the “right thing to do for the planet” and for the natural gas industry. “To maximize the climate benefits of gas — and meet the dual challenge of producing more energy with fewer emissions — we need to address its Achilles’ heel and eliminate methane emissions,” she wrote.

When Exxon and BP are like "dude, too much"...

(see also: automakers and mileage standards)

Yeah, when the criminals running Exxon and company are telling you it’s too far, you really have become, to use one of my favorite phrases, mustache-twirlingly evil.

 

[jazzylarry]

The EPA today is a parody of what it was created to do. Instead of protecting the environment the current political appointees main priority is protecting polluting industry. Ironic that the EPA was created by the Nixon administration with support from the Republican party.

The EPA isn't a parody, but the clowns at the top certainly are.

 

[Whatexit]

If we want to reduce pointless government action, I propose replacing the current President, and suggest we all get together on November 3, 2020 and make that happen.

In addition, and equally important, is to replace every legislator of his party that we can with candidates of other parties (most likely Democrats for most offices) at every level of government - federal, state, municipal. Send as strong a message as possible that the party of total irresponsibility, which supports short-term energy profits literally at the expense of this nation and the world's future, has no place in government. It is no exaggeration to say that at this point, the Republican party has degenerated to the party of world wide destruction. Absolutely astounding, hard to believe, but horrifyingly true. We can only hope that enough people are coming to understand the danger and get active in the 2018 elections.

 

[jazzylarry]

I keep waiting for the headline to read "Trump admin. announces plan to kill everyone and everything"

40% of voters would approve of the plan.

Those same voters would vote an orange for president.

 

[Primus pilus]

Trump admin. announces plan to kill 2016 methane emissions limits

Great news for Taco Bell!

 

[Sajuuk]

This administration run by cabal of hooligans is dead set on destroying the planet and all the (non-white & poor) people in it!

If 2020 does not kick these idiots out, we are doomed. And, even then, it will take decades to reverse all the damage done in such a short period of time.

If. If the damage can be, and then is, reversed. We never really even cleaned up after W.