EPA’s New Source methane pollution standards apply to 7,400 “new and modified” oil and gas wells across the state of Texas; in order to reduce toxic emissions and comply with the EPA’s standards, “new and modified” facilities are required to install pollution control equipment when they are first built or when an older facility is modified and to regularly inspect and fix leaky equipment.
Now, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is attempting to suspend these common sense leak detection and repair requirements at the behest of the oil and gas lobby. If these safeguards are suspended, or even worse repealed, families and children in Texas will undoubtedly face an ever-growing public health crisis from unchecked pollution in their communities, near schools, churches, and neighborhoods.