{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-opening-statement-at-epw-subcommittee-on-oversight-hearing-entitled-fugitive-methane-emissions-from-oil-and-gas-operations", "Inhofe Opening Statement at EPW Subcommittee on Oversight Hearing Entitled: \u201cFugitive Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Operations\u201d", "2013-11-05", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "OK", "James Inhofe", "I000024", "www.inhofe.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Inhofe Opening Statement at EPW Subcommittee on Oversight Hearing Entitled: \u201cFugitive Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Operations\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTuesday, November 5, 2013\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member on the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Oversight, today provided the following open statement at a hearing today titled \"Fugitive Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Operations:\"\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nAs prepared for delivery: \r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chairman Whitehouse, thank you for holding this hearing today, and I appreciate our distinguished witnesses taking the time to come to Washington to testify.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The issue of fugitive methane emissions is something I\u2019ve been involved in for years.\u00a0 Data started being collected about this around the time the Natural Gas Star program started.\u00a0 NatGas Star is a voluntary program designed to allow industry to collaborate and share best practices to reduce emissions from production activities.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We all know that oil and gas firms have every incentive to reduce methane emissions.\u00a0 Methane is natural gas, and when a company is in the business of extracting natural gas from the earth, their shareholders rightly demand that they do this without letting millions of dollars of their product vent into the atmosphere.\u00a0 No one wants that to happen.\u00a0 But necessarily, very small amounts of gas do sometimes escape during production activities.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 NatGas Star was all about EPA working collaboratively with industry to help them collect data and share best practices.\u00a0 It was a common goal, so everyone cooperated.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, EPA used the catalog of data it collected through the NatGas Star to justify some of its new oil and gas regulations.\u00a0 To make matters worse, EPA increased their emission estimate by assuming that methane is vented during the hydraulic fracturing process whenever there is not a state law mandating that it be flared.\u00a0 This is simply untrue, but it still enabled the EPA to justify a much more costly and onerous rue.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wrote a letter pointing out this problem in April 2012, but the Agency went ahead and finalized the rule anyway.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since then, the EPA has started to make some modifications to its inventory of methane emissions from oil and gas operations, but it has come only as a result of my personal attention to the matter.\u00a0 I discussed this at great length with Gina McCarthy during her confirmation process, and I\u2019m very appreciative she made adjustments to the inventory after being shown more accurate data.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even then, we still had major questions about the inventory data EPA had on emissions during the hydraulic fracturing process. \u00a0Industry had regularly communicated to me that the estimates from EPA were too high, which was contributing to the alarm surrounding the hydraulic fracturing process.\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A few weeks ago I was vindicated when the University of Texas and the Environmental Defense Fund released a landmark study that showed methane emissions during the hydraulic fracturing process had been overstated by EPA by 50 times.\u00a0 This study relied on real measurements as opposed to the EPA\u2019s general computer modeling estimates, so the new data we have now is significantly more trustworthy than what we had before.\u00a0 Overall, the study\u2019s measurements show that EPA\u2019s estimate of methane emissions from all oil and gas operations are overstated by about 20-30% and still remain at less than one half of one percent of total production.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fortunately, industry has made significant headway toward reducing even these emissions further.\u00a0 The industry is known for its world class research and development practices and partnerships with leading universities around the world, and as a result newer technology and process are constantly being developed.\u00a0 If a firm finds a better way to recover a resource without losing it to the atmosphere, the firm is going to do it as long as it makes financial sense.\u00a0 Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling are an example of this innovation.\u00a0 They are the cause of the current boom we\u2019re in; without them, we probably wouldn\u2019t be having this hearing today.\u00a0 The industry is highly innovative.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Still, some critics have raised concerns about the amount of flaring that is going on in North Dakota and in other regions that are being targeted for their rich deposits of oil but often yield natural gas, too.\u00a0\u00a0 In many of these cases, the companies simply cannot immediately justify the gathering network of pipelines needed to capture the gas and transport it to market.\u00a0 Since gas isn\u2019t a liquid, it\u2019s a lot harder to move.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of the best ways that we can help this situation is to allow widespread LNG exports, which are currently restricted by the Department of Energy.\u00a0 If we were to do that, then demand for natural gas \u2013 which is currently very low relative to supply \u2013 would become more solid, and more of these gathering networks could be justified, which would reduce flaring and increase domestic gas supply.\u00a0 It\u2019s truly a win win.\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Regardless, it\u2019s critical that EPA have the most up-to-date and accurate information in its methane emissions inventory.\u00a0 It is my hope that they will immediately make adjustments in light of the recent UT-EDF study \u2013 particularly to the hydraulic fracturing sections \u2013so that policymakers both here and abroad can make well informed decisions.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I look forward to hearing the witnesses\u2019 testimony and again thank the chairman for holding the hearing.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-opening-statement-at-epw-subcommittee-on-oversight-hearing-entitled-fugitive-methane-emissions-from-oil-and-gas-operations"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8879061788320541, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}