EPA implements climate law’s methane fee for oil and gas companies

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule Tuesday that implements a charge for oil and gas companies that release too much of the planet-warming gas methane.

The fee was passed as part of 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats' climate, tax and health care bill. 

Methane is a planet-warming pollutant that is about 28 times as powerful as carbon dioxide. Oil and gas production is one major source of methane emissions, because methane — the main component of natural gas ...