Article by Rachel Santarsiero: “…The fossil fuel industry is trying to weaken methane reporting requirements while simultaneously fighting to preserve the related federal emissions database it relies on for credibility, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) records recently released in response to a freedom of information request.
When the Trump administration announced plans last year to repeal the federal government’s greenhouse gas reporting system, rather than celebrate, many oil and gas companies publicly urged the EPA to preserve it. But for more than a year, behind closed doors, the fossil fuel industry has been pushing to weaken one of the reporting program’s most consequential elements.
Oil and gas companies fear this Biden-era revision to the methane reporting rule known as Subpart W, would force them to disclose much higher — and previously hidden — pollution levels. Those concerns, brewing for years, grew into a wave that ultimately would break onto the friendly shores of the Trump EPA in response to the agency’s expected overhaul of both the methane reporting rule and the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), the most comprehensive system for tracking the nation’s greenhouse gases, industry comments and public records show.
At a private trade group meeting in 2023, one energy analyst said the revised methane rule would be a “major PR headache” for oil and gas companies. “How do we even go talk to our investors and explain that this is what’s happening?” he said. “Things that historically potentially had gone unreported will now have to be reported.”
In 2025, an industry consultant predicted that some companies could see their reported methane emissions increase by four to ten times under the rule’s new methodology. As recently as this spring, another consultant speaking to a gas group conference warned that updated disclosure requirements would increase reported methane emissions by roughly 16 percent. Last month, major gas producer EQT cited this revised rule as one reason its reported methane emissions rose in 2025…(More)”.
