For Immediate Release:
May 10, 2017
Media Contact:
Alex Barnum
Alex.Barnum@calepa.ca.gov, (916) 324-9670
SACRAMENTO – Following the U.S. Senate’s vote today rejecting a bid to repeal a federal rule restricting methane emissions from oil and gas operations on public lands, California Secretary for Environmental Protection Matthew Rodriquez issued the following statement:
“We are gratified by the Senate’s vote that keeps in place a common sense rule to reduce wasted methane emissions from our public lands,” Secretary Rodriquez said. “This vote helps ensure that we prevent the squandering of a valuable public resource while also reducing a potent contributor to climate change.”
In a Feb. 6 letter, Secretary Rodriquez and senior officials from New Mexico, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Oregon urged Senate leaders to oppose the effort to repeal the rule. The rule, issued by the federal Bureau of Land Management in November, requires oil and gas companies to capture methane that had been previously burned off at drilling sites on federal land.
• California Air Resources Board • Department of Pesticide Regulation • Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) • Department of Toxic Substances Control • Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment • State Water Resources Control Board • Regional Water Quality Control Boards
CalEPA, 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 • P.O. Box 2815, Sacramento, CA 95812 • (916) 323-2514 www.calepa.ca.gov