EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans Wednesday to roll back Biden-era oil and gas regulations, targeting methane mandates that he says drove up energy costs for the Americans who can least afford it.
Speaking at the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association's annual conference in Santa Fe, Zeldin said the agency will propose rescinding the Biden administration's "super-emitter" program — which allowed third parties to identify and report large methane releases — and change how it regulates low-producing "stripper wells." The 2024 Biden rules also required producers to eliminate routine flaring of natural gas from new wells and mandated industry leak monitoring.
Zeldin called the super-emitter program "not necessary to meet Clean Air Act requirements — and it's not effective." On stripper wells, which he said account for roughly four out of every five producing wells in the nation, Zeldin argued the Biden EPA ignored the economic reality on the ground. "These wells are a critical part of household economics," Zeldin said. "Some owners use oil and gas to produce and power homes or run farm equipment, which helps offset everyday costs like groceries and gas."
In a statement, Zeldin was more direct about who pays when regulators pile on: "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."
Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at The PRICE Futures Group, told the Albuquerque Journal the Biden-era methane rules were putting smaller producers out of work. The new rules, he said, will "allow them to do their jobs by spending money producing oil instead of spending money on lawyers and compliance."
Reuters framed the move as rescinding a policy "targeting methane leaks," emphasizing the greenhouse gas angle. The Albuquerque Journal gave more ground-level detail: the Biden flaring requirement was itself eased after operators warned it could halt production entirely, and Zeldin's changes could "help unleash more U.S. energy dominance across America, giving domestic oil and natural gas producers of all sizes" a path forward.
Outside the convention center, a few dozen protesters linked to environmental organizations objected, arguing rollbacks will increase emissions and endanger people near oil and gas wells. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham highlighted her state's own methane rules — including a requirement that producers capture 98% of natural gas from wells by year's end — as some of the nation's strongest.
The question now is whether state-level regimes like New Mexico's will fill the regulatory gap the federal government is opening — and whether Zeldin's rollback actually delivers the cheaper gas and heating bills he's promising, or just lifts the burden from producers while consumers wait to see the savings.
