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Biden administration toughens crackdown on oil industry methane
President Joe Biden’s administration will toughen a proposed crackdown on methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas industry by requiring drillers to fix all leaks, not just the biggest, and through new rules on flaring, it said on Friday.
Related Knowledge Center: Methane
State of Play
As the production of natural gas from shale fields has expanded, so have methane emissions. U.S. methane emissions grew 27 percent from 1990 to 2009, according to the Energy Information Administration. Methane contributes about 10 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.