EPA plans to rescind methane Super Emitter Program, citing estimated $45 billion in savings

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose rescinding its methane Super Emitter Program as part of a rewrite of the 2024 oil and gas methane rules, Administrator Lee Zeldin announced October 7, according to an EPA news release.

Zeldin spoke at the annual meeting of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association in Santa Fe. The release says the agency will propose the next part of its reconsideration of the Biden administration’s 2024 rules, known as OOOOb and OOOOc, “in the coming days.” Zeldin is quoted as saying: “The Trump EPA is days not weeks away from announcing our proposal for the second part of the oil and gas reconsideration.”

The release says the proposal “is estimated to save $45 billion,” and contrasts that with $18 billion in regulatory costs that it says the Biden-era rule imposed without delivering promised environmental benefits. The release gives no source or method for either figure.

On the Super Emitter Program, the release says “serious legal concerns” have been raised and that EPA does not think the program is necessary to meet Clean Air Act requirements and “is not effective.” Zeldin also said, “Americans must be able to afford to heat their homes in the winter and fill up their car and drive to work.”

The release lists other planned changes. They include two co-proposed options for marginal well sites, each with separate standards, a split of the standard for covers and closed vent systems into design and operational requirements, a revisit of how associated gas from oil wells is regulated, and technical changes covering flame monitoring deviations, control device alerts and visible emissions test conditions.

EPA’s program page says a super emitter event is a methane leak or release at or near an oil and gas facility with an emission rate of 100 kilograms per hour or more. Certified third parties measure these events using EPA-approved remote sensing, such as satellites, aircraft or mobile monitoring, and must submit notifications within 15 calendar days of detection. EPA reviews each submission, assigns an identification number, notifies the owner or operator and posts the event publicly.

Under the program, operators must start an investigation within five calendar days of receiving EPA’s notification and report their findings to EPA within 15 days. They must repair leaks where required under other EPA standards. The page says future implementation is “extended until January 22, 2027,” under a July 2025 interim final rule.

The Environmental Defense Fund responded in an October 7 statement. Jon Goldstein, the group’s associate vice president for energy transition, said: “EPA should not give oil and gas companies more room to waste a domestic resource.” The statement says nearly $7 billion in natural gas value has been lost since the administration stopped enforcing key methane protections on March 12, 2025. It also says methane accounts for about 30 percent of the planet’s warming.

The statement says low-producing well sites supply less than 5 percent of the nation’s oil and gas but account for more than half of the industry’s methane emissions. It adds that nearly half of those sites are owned by 72 companies that each operate more than 1,000 well sites. EDF also cites its own research putting the U.S. health and climate cost of flaring in 2023 at $5.6 billion, and says the 2024 standards drew more than 900,000 public comments.

EPA has not yet published the proposal. Zeldin said in Santa Fe that it is days away.