Thread by @Earthworks

THREAD: Polluters (and their trade groups) are running a full fledged misinformation campaign to convince @POTUS and his @EPA to adopt new methane rules that would allow millions of wells to go unregulated. Here’s the scoop:

2) @POTUS Day 1 executive order called on the @EPA to create new rules to #cutmethane pollution from new and existing #oilandgas sources and the first draft of those rules are set to be released later this month. whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

3) According to @EPAMichaelRegan these rules will be the "most stringent" rules to #cutmethane from oil and gas. And that apparently has the #oilandgas lobby scrambling…

https://twitter.com/Earthworks/status/1440424797343666176?s=20

4) Their solution: telling tall tales that strong rules to #cutmethane would hurt “mom and pop” businesses that own low producing wells to just about anyone who will listen. eenews.net/articles/oil-s…

5) But a new report from @PEstakeholder has revealed that many of those businesses are actually funded by private equity giants. Sounds like in reality “mom and pop” just want to pollute without paying for it. pestakeholder.org/wp-content/upl…

6) And these “low producing wells” are significant polluters. In fact according to @ATownsendSmall some low producing wells emit more methane than they produce.
bloomberg.com/features/diver…

7) If numbers nationwide are comparable to our study in Pennsylvania then this proposed loophole for low producing wells could mean allowing over half of all methane emissions from #oilandgas operations to go unregulated. earthworks.org/blog/gov-wolf-…

8) Big oil and gas companies like @shell and @bp benefit from this too. According to a @HirokoTabuchi in the @nytimes these companies sell their old dirty assets to these private equity backed companies as a way to reduce their emissions…
nytimes.com/2021/10/13/cli…

9) It is no secret that for decades #oilandgas has blurred the lines of truth to amass a fortune by exploiting poor communities of color while driving us directly into a climate catastrophe. So why are we still listening to them? theguardian.com/environment/20…

10) If @POTUS and @EPAMichaelRegan want to be taken seriously as climate leaders then they cannot allow #oilandgas to dictate climate policy and they need to release rules that use every power under the Clean Air Act to #cutmethane emissions 65% by 2025. cutmethane.org

11) Then @POTUS must declare a climate emergency and begin a managed decline of fossil fuels in line with the recommendations of the @IPCC_CH and the @IEA. ~END