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Action Alerts

Tell the EPA to cut methane emissions

15,843
Supporters Spoke up in this Action
Delivery to the Environmental Protection Agency

Action Ended On

July 30, 2021

What Happens Next

Thank you to all who took action! The EPA will review your comments before coming to a decision. We're grateful for your support.

What was at Stake

The Environmental Protection Agency is working to craft a new rule to tackle methane and associated pollution from new and existing oil and gas operations, and it is taking feedback from the public. Methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is fueling the climate crisis and threatening the health and safety of our communities. It's time for the EPA to do something about it.

We have the tools and technology to cut methane pollution from the oil and gas sector by as much as 65 percent below 2012 levels by 2025, but there is no time to waste. Each year, the oil and gas industry releases 16 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere, and without swift federal action, methane pollution from the industry will continue to skyrocket.

Not only does methane pollution from the oil and gas industry jeopardize the continued habitability of our planet, it poisons the communities adjacent to its extraction. Methane is released alongside toxic pollutants such as benzene, formaldehyde, and ethylbenzene, which can cause debilitating health problems for millions of people.

It's time to work together to cut methane pollution from the oil and gas industry, and EPA's engagement process is an opportunity to make your voice heard.

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Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

Read More

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue. Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn more about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.

“The food we choose to produce—and how we produce it, use it and dispose of it—all have an impact on climate pollution and so have the potential to become climate solutions.”
– Peter LehnerManaging Attorney
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