EPA completes greenhouse gas reporting rule for oil-and-gas industry

The Environmental Protection Agency has completed final rules that require oil and natural-gas companies to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions.

The rules announced Tuesday — part of a broader industry reporting mandate launched last year — do not require any steps to reduce emissions.

But EPA has said the reporting rules will provide key data for its programs to cut greenhouse gases.

Upcoming EPA rules to limit greenhouse gases are in the crosshairs of Republicans, who will take over the House next year and shrank the Senate’s Democratic majority in the midterm elections.

Under the new rule, oil and natural-gas facilities that emit the equivalent of more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year must start monitoring and reporting their emissions next year. Companies’ first annual reports must be filed with EPA in late March of 2012.

“The petroleum and natural gas industries emit methane, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and are one of the largest human related sources of methane in the United States. Annual methane emissions from intentional venting and equipment leaks from these industries are comparable to annual emissions from more than 40 million passenger cars,” EPA said in a summary of the new mandate.

“The data collected through the reporting program will provide important information about GHG emissions from petroleum and natural gas facilities. While methane is a potent greenhouse gas, trapping more than 20 times as much heat as carbon dioxide, it is also the primary component of natural gas, a valuable fuel. The data collected by the companies will help identify cost effective ways to minimize the loss of methane,” the summary adds.

The rule applies to natural-gas pipeline companies, oil-and-gas producers and other industry segments.