This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Trump administration moved closer on Tuesday to rolling back Obama-era rules reducing oil and gas industry leaks of methane gas.

Jerry Brown: Trump's 'gross ignorance' main obstacle in climate change fight Read more

Methane is one of the most potent agents of climate change.

As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally released its proposed substitute for a 2016 Obama administration rule that aimed to step up detection and elimination of methane leaks at well sites and other oil and gas facilities, it conceded the move “may … degrade air quality and adversely affect health and welfare”.

The move is part of a broad Trump administration effort to undo former president Barack Obama’s legacy programs to fight climate change by cutting emissions from oil, gas and coal.

The EPA conceded that relaxing the Obama-era rule for methane leaks at oil and gas sites would put another 380,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere by 2025. The amount is roughly equivalent to more than 30m tons of carbon dioxide, another fossil-fuel emission that receives far more attention in efforts to slow climate change.

Relaxing federal oversight will save $75m in regulatory costs annually, the agency said.

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, a Colorado-based group that represents more than 300 companies, said the proposed changes would make the EPA rule more efficient and workable. The previous rule was “full of red tape”, Sgamma said in an interview. “This rule cleans that up, makes it more practical.”

Oil and gas drillers have “a four decade-long trend to reduce emissions”, and the new EPA rules recognize that reality, Sgamma said, adding that she hopes a Department of the Interior rule to be finalized in coming days will show a similar practical streak.

The pending rule by the Bureau of Land Management applies to fracking sites on public lands.

Environmentalists contend energy companies have already demonstrated they can comply with tougher monitoring and that only poorly operated companies were having trouble with the new requirements.

“Once again, the Trump administration is putting the interests of the worst-operated oil and gas companies ahead of the health and welfare of everyday Americans,” said Matt Watson, an associate vice-president at the Environmental Defense Fund.

On Tuesday, California governor Jerry Browntold a meeting in San Francisco ahead of a climate conference there that Donald Trump’s proposal to increase methane releases is “insane” and “borders on criminality”.

“It perhaps is the most obvious and dangerous and irresponsible action by Mr Trump and that’s saying quite a lot,” Brown said.

The EPA under Obama completed the existing rule in May 2016 and it took effect that August. Competing court challenges from the oil and gas industry and environmental groups, and EPA moves to freeze part of the Obama rule, have mired implementation.

Tuesday’s action opens a 60-day period for public comment ahead of any final decision by the Trump administration.