$45B methane rule ending: Trump says Biden-era restrictions on oil drilling emissions are terminated

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is terminating the methane emissions rule inherited from President Joe Biden, a move he said would save energy producers and consumers $45 billion in costs.

Speaking at a rally in Lubbock, Texas, for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, Trump said Biden's plan "crushed the small operators" with regulations. He said ending the rule would unlock 210 million barrels of oil, an amount equal to about 10 days of U.S. petroleum consumption.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin previewed part of the change last month, saying the agency would eliminate its Super Emitter Program, which required companies to investigate and repair major methane releases at oil and natural gas facilities. Zeldin also said the agency would set less restrictive standards for small oil and gas wells. Zeldin has said the methane rule would have cost $18 billion and was holding back the U.S. energy industry.

The Biden methane rule was announced in 2023 at a U.N. climate conference in the United Arab Emirates by officials including former Vice President Kamala Harris. Federal officials under Biden estimated it would prevent 58 million tons of methane emissions by 2038 and reduce other pollutants that cause health problems. By 2034, the rule was projected to yield $98 billion in benefits, a figure derived from the future social costs of greenhouse gas emissions on public health and the environment. The Trump EPA rejects that approach.

The rule, published in 2024, applied to existing wells as well as new ones. Operators would have had to plug leaking methane from smaller wells that produce 6% of the nation's oil and gas while accounting for up to half of all methane emissions from oil and gas fields. The EPA last year imposed an 18-month delay to give companies time to meet inspection requirements and other provisions.

The rule was tied to a methane fee approved in the 2022 climate law that would have charged up to $1,500 per metric ton of methane on producers exceeding certain emission levels. That fee marked the first time the U.S. government directly imposed a fee on greenhouse gas emissions. Congress repealed it weeks after Trump took office.

The change comes as Trump and congressional Republicans dismantle climate policies from the Biden administration. Actions already taken include revoking a scientific finding central to U.S. greenhouse gas emission action, lowering fuel economy standards for vehicles, and moving to repeal emission restrictions for coal and natural gas power plants.

Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said the rollback gives companies a "free pass" at the expense of American consumers. "EPA should be fighting this waste, not making it easier," he said. Methane is the main component in natural gas and, in the short term, is far more potent in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Scientists estimate it is responsible for about a third of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane, which leaks from equipment and is released into the atmosphere or burned off as a waste product by drillers.

The move also arrives as Trump faces criticism over high fuel prices amid the war in Iran. Trump said at the Lubbock rally that the change would save companies and consumers billions of dollars.