President Trump will announce Tuesday a sweeping rollback of Biden-era methane regulations that never actually took effect, freeing oil and gas producers from an estimated $45 billion in compliance costs and dismantling a framework that would have let green activists police energy infrastructure.
The stakes are straightforward: the Biden rule was published in 2024 but the EPA itself imposed an 18-month delay before it could be enforced, meaning the entire apparatus was theoretical. Now it's headed for the scrap heap, along with a "waste emissions charge" of up to $1,500 per metric ton on methane — the first direct federal tax on greenhouse gas emissions — which Congress repealed weeks after Trump took office.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin didn't mince words: "Americans must be able to afford to heat their homes in the winter and fill up their car and drive to work. They can't do that when the people producing the energy are weighed down by unnecessary burdens."
The rollback targets three specific mechanisms. First, the so-called "Super Emitter Program," which allowed EPA-approved third-party observers to report major leaks exceeding 100 kilograms per hour — effectively deputizing environmental groups to act as regulators. Second, regulations on "marginal wells" producing 15 barrels of oil equivalent or less per day, which burden small operators who are already barely economic. Third, rules around routine flaring of "associated gas" in places like the Permian Basin, where the cost of capturing gas that comes up with oil exceeds its market value.
The Biden rule was rolled out at a 2023 U.N. climate conference in the United Arab Emirates by then-Vice President Kamala Harris — a foreign venue for a domestic regulation. Federal officials claimed it would prevent 58 million tons of methane emissions by 2038. U.S. News noted the announcement comes as Trump faces pressure over fuel prices tied to the U.S. war in Iran — a connection the climate press would rather not draw.
The Verge framed the rollback as "making it easier for fossil fuel companies to leak methane." Breitbart included the EPA's $45 billion savings figure and Zeldin's defense of working families. U.S. News, alone among the three, acknowledged the rule never went into effect and that Congress already killed the methane fee.
Julia Kane, a researcher at oil and gas watchdog Fieldnotes, accused the EPA of giving producers "a toothless methane standard they can use to pretend they're well-regulated." Fieldnotes didn't disclose who funds its operations.
The United States leads the world in methane emissions from oil and gas, according to the International Energy Agency — and also leads the world in oil and gas production. The question is whether working Americans should pay more for energy to satisfy climate commitments announced at U.N. conferences, or whether domestic production should answer to the people who depend on it to heat their homes and drive to work.
