Colorado oil and gas interests are among those urging U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in a letter to oppose a fee on methane.

The American Petroleum Institute, the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Concern, Consumer Energy Alliance-Rockies, West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association and the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce and others were among 130 energy, manufacturing, business and labor trade organizations who signed the letter.

The organizations contend the fee “could jeopardize affordable and reliable energy with likely little reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” citing “cost-effective regulation” as a better solution.

“To impose a misguided punitive tax on natural gas could significantly undermine any purported effort of this legislation to reduce GHG emissions,” the letter states. “In addition to potentially detrimental environmental outcomes, the Methane Emissions Reduction Act could have adverse and disproportionate economic impacts nationwide. The potential direct cost of the bill to the economy, not including import fees, could initially be as high as $14.4 billion, increasing 5% above inflation annually. As many as 155,000 jobs could be impacted by the tax, with the largest impacts concentrated in the health care and social assistance industries.”

Read the full letter by clicking here.

“If the objective is to reduce methane emissions, direct regulation of methane is the best method to implement such a government policy and do so in an equitable manner that is tied to actual emissions,” the letter continues. “EPA is best-suited to address the challenges in reducing methane emissions because regulation stipulates the installation of cost-effective control technologies – as well as leak detection and repair requirements – that prevent and reduce methane emissions at oil and natural gas facilities.”

In June, President Joe Biden invalidated the Trump administration’s looser rules on methane by signing a congressional resolution backed by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Denver, marking a return to rules first practiced in Colorado and adopted by the Obama administration.

The Environmental Defense Fund estimates that Colorado production operations annually release more than 132,000 metric tons of methane, the equivalent of 1.9 million passenger vehicles.

The advocacy group Coloradans for Responsible Energy Developments point to Colorado’s falling emissions rages and its nation-leading regulations, citing:

• Use of electric-powered drilling rigs instead of diesel-powered rigs
• Use of closed-loop systems that are airtight and designed to reduce emissions
• About 2.7 million leak detection and repair inspections with infrared cameras to detect emissions since 2014

Colorado has been one of the leading states in regulating methane emissions, providing a template for federal policy.

“Colorado’s first-in-the-nation regulations include groundwater testing and monitoring, setbacks from buildings, installing noise barriers during drilling operations, and re-routing or reducing truck traffic away from communities,” CRED states.

According to Gov. Jared Polis’ Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap released in January, transportation remains Colorado’s the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, followed by electricity generation. Oil and gas production is third, followed by fuel used in residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Reducing methane was the sixth solution cited by the report, behind moving toward electric vehicles and “swift transition away from coal to renewable electricity.”

Democratic U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Brian Schatz of Hawaii today introduced legislation in March aimed at curbing methane emissions, asserting they account for about 25% of global-warming emissions, 80 times more problematic than carbon dioxide.

“Reducing methane emissions must be part of our broader strategy to quickly and comprehensively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the existential threat of climate change,” Booker said at the time. “This bill will hold oil and gas companies financially responsible for their methane pollution and make methane emissions from fossil fuel production cost prohibitive, steps that will go a long way in the fight against climate change and to protect air quality in local communities.”

The legislation instructs the U.S. Treasury to work with the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a program to monitor and price methane emissions from each major oil producing basin.