{
  "id": 6736387,
  "title": "EPA to Loosen Methane Rules, Boosting Pollution From Oil and Gas Wells",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/epa-to-loosen-methane-rules-boosting-pollution-from-oil-and-gas-wells",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-11T09:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ProPublica",
    "slug": "propublica",
    "url": "https://www.propublica.org/article/methane-gas-epa-proposal-stripper-wells"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Trump administration is set to relax environmental regulations on oil and gas wells that produce minimal energy but emit significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to loosen requirements for leak inspections and equipment upgrades at over 700,000 low-producing \"stripper wells.\" These wells, often old and poorly maintained, account for 6% of the nation's oil and gas but produce roughly half of the sector's methane pollution. The EPA acknowledges that existing regulations make low-producing wells too costly to operate, but argues that this would be \"unreasonable\" as it would only eliminate 0.4% of U.S. oil and gas production. The proposal, which weakens methane controls across the oil industry, is expected to save companies $42 billion through 2050. Environmental advocates claim that deregulating stripper wells will barely boost energy output while significantly increasing climate pollution. The rollback is seen as part of a campaign by a faction of the oil industry that gained influence during the second Trump administration, notably Hilcorp, a company known for purchasing old stripper wells. Former Hilcorp lobbyist Aaron Szabo was appointed to a top EPA position, overseeing the effort to scrap the new methane rules. Project 2025, a deregulatory roadmap for the current administration, also recommended eliminating an EPA program to track and respond to \"super-emitter\" events — large methane releases that have long plagued the industry.",
  "summary": "The post EPA to Loosen Methane Rules, Boosting Pollution From Oil and Gas Wells appeared first on ProPublica .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}