Controlling methane emissions from petroleum and dairy farming U.S. emissions legislation timetable
On March 28, 2014, the Obama administration proposed new strategies to reduce methane emissions, focusing on landfills, coal mines, dairy farming, and oil and gas systems, as part of its climate action plan announced in June last year.
Methane is the main component of natural gas and a greenhouse gas. Its warming power is 21 times that of carbon dioxide, and its emissions account for nearly 9% of the total man-made greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Since 1990, although methane-generating activities have increased in the United States, methane pollution has decreased11%.
Reducing methane exhaust gas and pollution is a very important greenhouse gas reduction action. If no action is taken to reduce methane emissions, it is expected that by 2030, the level of methane pollution will increase to the equivalent of 620 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution.
The Obama administration's new strategy promises to reduce methane emissions and demonstrates the U.S. government's efforts to improve greenhouse gas emission standards. The White House calls it "a cost-effective voluntary action; consistent with basic common sense standards."
In the summer of 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will propose new standards to reduce methane emissions from new landfills and take public comment on whether to adopt the new standards simultaneously with older landfills.
In April 2014, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will enter the legislative process to implement and manage the capture, sale or processing of waste mine methane on federally leased land.
In June 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency will launch interagency cooperation and work with the dairy industry to publish the "Biogas Blueprint" to plan a series of voluntary measures to accelerate the promotion of anaerobic digestion and other cost-effective technologies. technology, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. dairy farming industry by 30% by 2020.
As early as 2011, the risk assessment method for priority assessment of chemical substances was reviewed at the three-provincial joint review meeting of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of the Environment, and relevant opinions were issued on September 26, 2011. The technical guidelines are mentioned in the appendix "Basic Ideas for Risk Assessment of Priority Assessment of Chemical Substances under the Chemical Submissions Law" of the call for submissions. According to the annual work plan of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, NITE has been designated to undertake the preparation of relevant technical guidelines.
This spring, the EPA will assess methane and other gas emissions from the oil and natural gas industry, solicit opinions from independent experts in the form of a technical white paper, and plan to identify the best way to reduce methane in the fall; if the EPA decides to develop new The specifications will be finalized by the end of 2016.
There are also three actions related to the oil and gas industry. This year the BLM will propose new standards to reduce venting and flaring of oil and gas produced on public lands.
The Obama administration will convene a roundtable through the Department of Energy to identify "downstream" methane reduction opportunities as part of its four-year energy review report. Through the Natural Gas Star program, the EPA will work with industry to develop voluntary actions to reduce methane emissions.
Source: Environmental Information Center (2014-03-28)
