PITTSBURGH Pennsylvanians were overwhelmingly present during three days of virtual public testimony to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week, sharing why a proposal to sharply reduce methane pollution from the oil and natural-gas industry is needed. The rule would reduce 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035, according to the EPA. Rajani Vaidyanathan, a Pittsburgh resident and volunteer with Moms Clean Air Force, said during the hearing the changes would have a big impact on her community, where unconventional wells are within a two-mile radius of schools. .
LOS ANGELES California-based facilities are refining half of all the oil drilled in the Amazon rain forests, according to a new report by the groups Amazon Watch and Stand.earth. Now, organizations fighting climate change are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to end oil imports from the Amazon region. .
DENVER President Joe Biden s Build Back Better Act includes reforms for oil and gas production on public lands first introduced by the Reagan administration. Pegah Jalali, environmental policy analyst at the Colorado Fiscal Institute, sees the reforms as an opportunity to hold companies accountable for environmental costs, and to fix a program a recent Department of Interior report found to be outdated and broken. "It benefits oil and gas companies," Jalali contended. " .
An attorney for Earthjustice, said rules lack transparency and fall short of what is necessary to protect humans and the environment because of loopholes.