Satellite emission monitoring companies look to the long term as US rolls back methane leak limits

Under the guise of cutting "burdensome and ineffective regulations" as mandated by President Trump and his administration, the US Environmental Protection Agency last week scrapped rules that had oil and gas companies monitoring methane leaks. SpaceQ queried GHGSat and Bluefield, two companies that measure emissions, for their take. Speaking in Pittsburgh, the largest city in the Pennsylvania battleground state last Thursday, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said “regulatory burdens put into place by the Obama-Biden Administration fell heavily on small and medium-sized energy businesses. Today’s regulatory changes remove redundant paperwork, align with the Clean Air Act, and allow companies the flexibility to satisfy leak-control requirements by complying with equivalent state rules.” The announcement will appeal to the Presidents base that includes small and medium sized oil and gas companies. Large oil and gas companies for their part were in favour of the Obama era regulations. bp America issued a statement in support of continued methane regulations and monitoring saying "bp believes methane should be directly regulated by the EPA and respectfully disagrees with today’s decision by the administration. Direct federal regulation of methane emissions is essential to preventing leaks throughout the industry and protecting the environment." The move by the Trump administration also got a response from the Editorial Board of the Washington Post who stated that "the administration announced a disastrous policy shift regarding methane emissions. The Obama administration had developed rules to limit these potent greenhouse agents from entering the atmosphere. Mr. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency canceled the Obama methane rule, despite agreement even among large oil and gas companies that it was reasonable." The Post was also blunt in its assessment of what the Trump administration had done saying "the new rules, issued Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget, effectively rescind the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate methane, the largest component of natural gas." GHGSat, one of the companies that is monitoring methane leaks by satellite and plane, told SpaceQ by email that their "oil & gas customers are generally planning for the long-term rather than reacting to short-term policy changes in favour or against policy initiatives. The long-term trend is clear, which is why so many of our customers have announced plans to reach Net Zero, often combined with rigorous emissions monitoring programs." "This US federal policy change should also be considered in context of the full policy framework for any industrial operator in the US. Federal policies are just one level of policies. Regional, state and even municipal policies can be more or less stringent for emissions monitoring, depending on the jurisdiction. Many of our customers operate in jurisdictions where this federal policy will simply be less stringent than existing or planned state policies." Yotam Ariel, CEO of Bluefield, another company looking to monitor methane leaks told SpaceQ by email that "demand for Bluefield's greenhouse gas data driven by financial institutions pressuring emitters to disclose their status in reducing emissions. Independent emissions data is highly sought after by financial institutions, the emitters, and local governments, regardless of current regulations. Such data can only be captured at scale through satellite-based sensors." "We're seeing even stronger demand from the US market since there's a data vacuum that needs to be filled by the private sector, and we're on track to continue our revenues growth. Strong climate change policies are inevitable, and multinational energy companies are already subject to them even if the country they operate in lack regulations, for example a European energy company with operations in the US." Neither GHGSat or Bluefield see the new EPA rules changing their business plans or effecting revenue. Stephane Germain, GHGSat's CEO also commented on what it would mean if Trump losses the election. "Biden has clearly different policies with regards to the environment. However, just as it took Trump almost 4 years to reverse Obama-era policies, it will likely take Biden several years to reverse Trump-era policies – if Biden wins. This reality underscores why so many of our customers plan for the long-term rather than respond to short-erm policy changes." GHGSat is looking to have its second emission monitoring satellite launched on August 31st on the Arianespace VV16 mission.