More from the EPA

I lived in West Texas from 1964 to the end of 1968. I generally liked being a kid there, life had its ups and downs of course. One thing I don't remember was it smelling particularly bad. I will tell you, it sure stinks now. All of those gas wells are not helping its olfactory pungency level one bit.

Take a drive up to Midland some day and get a whiff of the methane, it is horrible. Houston is now the official smelliest spot in the whole country.

Today I read that the stinky Trump EPA is helping their favorite polluters out once again. 

From ProPublica:

EPA to Loosen Methane Rules, Boosting Pollution From Oil and Gas Wells

The Trump administration is poised to loosen environmental restrictions on oil and gas wells that produce very little energy but release vast amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to drastically weaken requirements for leak inspections and equipment upgrades at more than 700,000 low-producing “stripper wells,” according to a draft rule being reviewed by the White House and seen by ProPublica. These wells — which tend to be old, poorly maintained and thus prone to leaking — produce just 6% of the country’s oil and natural gas but are responsible for roughly half the sector’s methane pollution, studies show.

The EPA acknowledged similar figures in the draft. But it said that the cost of complying with existing regulations would force the lowest-producing wells to shut down and that this was “unreasonable” — even though it would eliminate just 0.4% of U.S. oil and gas production, according to an industry estimate cited in the proposed rule.

The proposal, which would also weaken methane controls in the wider oil industry, is expected to save companies $42 billion through 2050. An attached memo says the rollback will help to “unleash” American energy, one of President Donald Trump’s favorite slogans.

If your read the article, you will see the standard corrupt practices between this administration and the pollution industry that we have come to expect. This awful regime can not be gone soon enough.

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Unprotecting American Lands: How Trump Is Dismantling America’s Bipartisan Conservation Legacy

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Trump moves to ease environmental rules for data centers

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Trump administration stalled a survey of PFAS in wastewater, former EPA officials say.

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Inside Trump’s Aggressive Push to Build Data Centers on Public Lands

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The making of a judicial coup.

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Today's favorite screenshot.