Tell the EPA You Support Strong Methane Safeguards to Cut Dangerous Oil & Gas Pollution

Pollution from oil & gas drilling and infrastructure threatens local communities, families, and workers in affected areas across the U.S., and threatens the future of our planet by accelerating the pace of climate change.

Emissions from the industry are linked to severe health impacts, including cancer, heart problems, and high rates of childhood asthma. Over 17 million people in the U.S. live within half a mile of oil & gas production, putting them in harm's way of the industry's pollution and health impacts. These impacts disproportionately threaten children, pregnant women, the elderly, and other vulnerable populations.

To address these health and climate harms, the EPA has just released new proposed safeguards to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from new and existing oil and gas operations.

The new safeguards are an important step towards addressing the climate crisis, safeguarding public health, and creating new jobs. They improve monitoring requirements for equipment known to malfunction and leak dangerous methane gas and for smaller oil & gas wells, which are responsible for half of all site-level methane emissions nationwide. Reducing methane pollution is our best chance to avert climate catastrophe in the next 10 years and reduce harmful pollutants.

Still, there is more work to be done to ensure that the strongest possible safeguards are quickly finalized and the EPA should improve its proposed safeguards to better address climate change and health impacts from the oil & gas industry.

Take action: Tell the EPA that you support safeguards for methane pollution and that you want them to strengthen the proposed rules to protect public health by:

• Ensuring that operators at wells capture associated gas and limit flaring of that gas in instances in which it is necessary for safety or maintenance reasons;

• Strengthening the standards to address emissions from storage and production tanks by making the standards applicable to more tanks; and

• Providing a clear pathway for communities and individuals to participate and engage in the Super Emitter Response Program, which is designed to quickly address very large leaks from the oil and gas industry, by ensuring that approved monitoring technologies and data are accessible to all.

Use our easy click and sign form to send comments to the EPA right now and consider personalizing them with your own experience with oil and gas pollution!

Halt the Harm is supporting grassroots groups and activists who are working to cut methane pollution and highlight the importance of the new EPA rule. You may receive emails from leaders in your area who are involved in the methane campaign and fighting oil & gas pollution locally.