As federal methane rules wane, Wyoming pressed to do more

Shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it would roll back methane regulations on the nation’s oil and gas industry, officials from Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality faced a fractious group in Casper over plans to increase standards on a state level.

The Air Quality Division held a public meeting Tuesday following its proposal to update best practices for oil and gas development. The guidance aims to reduce methane emissions from infrastructure and would extend some rules that operators must follow in the once-pollution heavy Upper Green River Basin to other parts of the state.

The state regulators’ direction is supported by conservation and landowner advocates in Wyoming and would make state rules more in line with those at the Environmental Protection Agency for new and modified sources of emissions, like oil and gas wells and associated equipment.

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