Methane Regulations: Are They Really Necessary?
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The new target in the Obama administration’s war on greenhouse gas emissions is methane. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new regulations that would reduce methane emissions by up to 45 percent by 2025.
But do we really need these regulations? According to Chip Knappenberger and Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute, the oil and gas industry has already reduced emissions by 10 percent since 2008, thanks to new technologies. Moreover, the global warming predicted by the climate models has not happened — the earth has seen an 18-year plateau in warming with barely any temperature rise.
Moreover, limiting methane emissions would do little to reduce the earth’s temperature. According to Knappenberger and Michaels, methane emissions from the oil and gas industry make up just 3 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. The agency’s regulation would result in nothing more than a paltry 0.002 degrees Celsius change in warming by 2100.
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