Sights set on methane

President Obama’s administration recently announced a plan to cut emissions of methane gas, which account for about 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to government estimates.

As a heat-trapping gas, methane is about 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over the course of a century. Emissions have been in decline since 1990, but experts project they will rise again by 2030 as the U.S. expands production of oil and shale gas, according to The Washington Post. Dan Utech, a special assistant to the president for energy and climate change, said the proposal relies on “cost-effective, voluntary actions and common-sense standards” to curb methane emissions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin assessing major sources of methane from the oil and gas industry this spring and will issue regulations on new landfills this summer. Any new limits on oil and gas production would become law at the end of 2016.