The Trump administration is about to propose its latest rollback of Obama-era climate rules, moving to ease requirements for oil-and-gas companies that were designed to limit leaks of the heat-trapping gas methane, administration officials said.
The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to release on Wednesday a proposal that would make it easier for oil-and-gas companies to comply with rules designed to limit the amount of methane released into the atmosphere.
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The EPA proposal aims to ensure oil-and-gas companies have more time to assess and safely repair infrastructure often in remote locations, according to a draft summary of the proposal. The proposed changes, among other measures, would give drillers a year to do leak inspections instead of just six months, and 60 days to make repairs instead of 30, the document said.
Environmentalists are likely to oppose the plan, asserting the delayed inspections and repair schedules are likely to increase the amount of harmful gases released into the environment, and that the proposal opens the door to further rollbacks of climate regulations.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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