On August 20, EPA issued the news release “ICYMI: The Trump Administration Has Removed Environmental Regulations that Hamstring American Businesses.”  The release says EPA is removing “unnecessary and inappropriate burdens on the United States energy sector with two final rules that amend the 2016 New Source Performance Standards for the oil and natural gas industry.”

Narrowing the Regulatory Scope
According to the release, the first rule “removes the transmission and storage segment of the industry from regulation and rescinds the Obama Administration’s inadequately justified regulation of methane.” The second rule “will make much-needed changes to requirements for monitoring fugitive emissions (or ‘leaks’), among other changes.”

The release indicates the rules will “relieve some owners and operators from complying with multiple layers of regulation” in those states that already control fugitive emissions under state regulations.

Wheeler Opinion Piece Touts Deregulation Efforts
The release also has a link to an opinion piece by EPA Administrator Wheeler, which includes the same information as the release and has additional data on EPA’s deregulatory efforts.  Administrator Wheeler claims “EPA has finalized an estimated 64 deregulatory actions, saving an estimated $94 billion in regulatory costs, with an additional 39 actions in development projected to save billions of dollars more.”

For a link to the release, which includes a link to the opinion piece https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/icymi-trump-administration-has-removed-environmental-regulations-hamstring-american