President Donald Trump announced Tuesday in Texas he plans to rescind federal rules finalized in 2024 by the Biden administration that limit emissions from oil and gas wells, a move he said will put “$45 billion back into the pockets of energy producers and consumers.”
Standing alongside U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin at a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, the president declared he will terminate the 2024 Quad-O methane regulations, calling them “expensive and unnecessary” barriers to domestic production. These are “unworkable, business-killing regulations,” Trump said.
The Trump administration proposed changes to the rules in a 128-page notice published Thursday in the Federal Register.
President Joe Biden approved the Quad-O rules in late 2023, mandating an 80% reduction in methane emissions by both new and existing wells over a 15-year period ending in 2038. The regulations would force forced independent drillers to buy costly, EPA-approved instrumentation upgrades and implement strict emissions monitoring, with compliance plans by each state required by January 2027.
Independent oil and gas producers and many industry groups argue the financial costs of complying with Quad-O would be much too high. They say the mandates would force the premature closure of many older, lower-producing wells, which account for about 5% to 6% of total U.S. oil and gas output.
The National Stripper Well Association, which primarily represents small-scale independent producers, said in a position statement in September that “the costs associated with complying with these regulations will make the majority of these wells uneconomical to operate” and force many to be shut down.
Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, said the Biden administration’s Quad-O rules “weaponized the EPA” to advance a political agenda. “Removing unnecessary regulatory barriers will strengthen American energy security, encourage domestic production, and help lower costs,” said Isaac.
Steve Milloy, a senior fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, said the president’s decision will spare independent drillers the hassle of “pointless greenhouse gas emissions-control rules.”
Environmental groups and climate advocates contend that while aging marginal wells produce only a small part of the nation’s total oil and gas output, they account for about half of the industry’s methane emissions due to the outdated equipment commonly used.
David Doniger, senior strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called methane leaks “the dumbest kind of pollution because the industry is losing the very product it is selling.”
The Environmental Defense Fund estimates dismantling the Quad-O regulations will allow 58 million tons of methane pollution to escape into the atmosphere over the next 15 years. The environmental group’s vice president of Energy Transition, Jon Goldstein, said the Trump administration’s decision to roll back “basic checks” will trigger millions of tons of “unchecked super-pollutant leaks.”
“Axing these common-sense rules lets operators off the hook while pushing the cost of increased pollution onto local communities,” said Goldstein.
While small independent oil and gas producers have staunchly opposed the Quad-O methane rules, large multinational corporations including ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP have supported federal emissions regulations, asserting that consistent industry-wide standards are necessary to reduce leaks in oil and gas fields.