This week, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, President Joe Biden announced that his administration would introduce some of the strongest regulations against methane released by oil and gas drilling, as a part of his push to tackle climate change. His administration should look to Colorado as a model when developing these regulations.

Colorado was the first state in the country to regulate methane from the oil and gas industry, doing so in 2014. We’ve gone further since then. Twice a year producers have to check wells and transmission lines for leaks, they are required to use valves that reduce emissions and methane flaring has been banned.

Reducing methane in the atmosphere would have a major positive impact on climate change. It is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and disappears from the atmosphere in a matter of years. Much faster than the centuries it takes for CO2. According to a recent Colorado Public Radio report, scientists agree that cracking down on methane could be one of the most effective strategies to slow rising global temperatures.

Jon Goldstein, a policy director with the Environmental Defense Fund, told CPR that Colorado’s regulations haven’t slowed economic growth, they have driven it. When regulations give companies room to innovate, as Colorado’s have, they lead to better outcomes that accomplish methane reduction, while keeping costs down. In fact, because fixing leaks allows the industry to collect more of one of its main products, a recent United Nations assessment found it could tackle most of the problem at virtually no cost.

Dan Haley, the president and CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, told CPR that the administration could learn from the state by not adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

“Rules must allow for new technology, new approaches and spur companies to innovate. That only occurs if companies are given a seat at the table and afforded a stable framework within which they can operate,” Haley said.

Having that stable framework is really important for the industry to be able to follow these new rules. They already face huge challenges from constantly shifting regulations from the federal, state and local level, as The Sentinel’s Dennis Webb reported this week.

The five-member Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission held meetings in Paonia on Tuesday and Glenwood Springs on Wednesday, as it has been working to finish adopting, and begin implementing, new regulations of its own that protect public health, safety, welfare, the environment and wildlife.

Robert Bleil, regulatory programs director for Utah Gas Corp., an energy developer with assets in western Colorado, talked about the challenges of energy companies keeping up with hundreds of regulations from more than 35 federal, state and county agencies and divisions, according to Webb’s reporting. He said that since January, COGCC has implemented 120 guidance documents, forms or changes, and that state air regulators have changed regulations seven times in the last year.

Those are “just two of the 35 agencies I’ve mentioned,” Bleil said.

The challenges of climate change need to be addressed and reducing methane leaks from the oil and gas industry is a major step we need to take nation-wide. Colorado has been a leader in this effort and the federal government should learn from our example.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel editorial board