EPA Proposes $45 Billion Methane Rule Rollback as States Dig In

EPA's October 29, 2026 proposal would rewrite federal methane and VOC rules for oil and gas, and the agency projects roughly $45 billion in economic benefits over 2027–2050 plus about 210 million barrels of additional U.S. oil production and 1.41 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The proposal, opened for comment on October 29, revises the New Source Performance Standards in 40 C.F.R. Part 60, Subpart OOOOb — covering new, modified and reconstructed sources — and the Emission Guidelines in Subpart OOOOc, which set presumptive methane standards states must incorporate into plans for existing sources under Clean Air Act Section 111(d). Comments close December 16, 2026, with a virtual public hearing set for November 16, 2026.

Administrator Lee Zeldin described the proposal as part of President Trump's "promise[] to end the war on oil and natural gas." The bottom line: this is the most consequential step yet in EPA's reconsideration of the Biden-era rules finalized in March 2024.

How did we get here?

Zeldin announced the reconsideration on March 12, 2025, calling the rules "regulations throttling the oil and gas industry." EPA then stretched compliance deadlines through an interim final rule in July 2025 and a final rule in December 2025, covering control devices, equipment leaks, storage vessels, process controllers, covers and closed vent systems, and the Super Emitter Program.

In April 2026, EPA finalized amendments allowing operators more flexibility to temporarily flare associated gas and easing net heating value monitoring for combustion control devices. April 30, 2026 guidance confirmed operators may flare associated gas for up to 30 days per incident when pipeline or gathering-system interruptions beyond their control block market access.

October's proposal goes further — it revisits the substance of the 2024 requirements, not just their timing.

What happens to the Super Emitter Program?

EPA proposes rescinding the program outright from OOOOb, its predecessors OOOO and OOOOa, and OOOOc. The program lets EPA-certified third parties use satellite imagery, aerial surveys and other remote sensing to report methane releases of at least 100 kilograms per hour; EPA notifies the operator, who must investigate, report and take corrective action. EPA delayed implementation in 2025 until January 22, 2027.

EPA cites "insufficient evidence of the nature and duration of super-emitter events" and argues existing monitoring and repair requirements already catch significant releases. The agency also questions whether Clean Air Act Sections 111 and 114 authorize the program's "novel" third-party framework. Leak detection, repair and reporting requirements stay. Some states, though, run or are building their own versions.

What about marginal and conventional wells?

EPA offers two alternatives, both creating less stringent subcategories under OOOOb and OOOOc:

• Marginal well sites: each well must meet marginal-well criteria and total site production cannot exceed 15 barrels of oil equivalent per day, averaged over the prior 12 months.
• Conventional well sites: sites containing only conventional wells producing from permeable formations — no production-volume test, no hydraulic fracturing assumptions. EPA says this cuts administrative burden and keeps treatment consistent as production changes over a well's life.

Either way, qualifying sites would shift to quarterly audio, visual and olfactory inspections instead of instrument-based fugitive-emissions monitoring, with added flexibility for gas-driven controllers and pumps. EPA also proposes new criteria for when modifications — production-boosting activities, operational changes, or adding specified controllers, pumps or storage vessels — pull an entire site into OOOOb, not just the modified equipment.

Which technical requirements get looser?

Covers and closed vent systems. The 2024 rule required no identifiable emissions (NIE) by design and operation, with any detected emission an immediate deviation. The proposal drops the separate design-NIE requirement and gives operators 24 hours to complete repairs without a design deviation; operational compliance holds if an initial repair starts within five days and finishes within 30 days, subject to exceptions. Recurring problems — three emissions events or defects on the same equipment in a rolling year — would trigger an investigation and corrective measures.

Associated gas flaring. The 2024 rule generally required capture to a sales line, recovery or reinjection, restricting routine flaring after the May 7, 2026 phaseout deadline. The proposal revises the best-system-of-emission-reduction determination to allow routine routing through a closed vent system to a flare or control device achieving at least 95% methane and VOC reduction — no more requirement to prioritize sale over flaring. EPA reasons that capture depends on third-party pipeline infrastructure operators don't control. EPA also seeks comment on a narrower alternative retaining the 2024 BSER.

Control devices. Operators could use supplemental "documented information" — say, temperature readings before and after a monitoring gap — to prove a pilot flame stayed lit instead of treating every gap as a deviation. Flame failure alerts could go to centralized control rooms, and operators get 24 extra operating hours after month-end for Method 22 visible emissions observations.

Other equipment. Additional flexibility lands on process controllers, pneumatic pumps, liquids unloading, fugitive emissions monitoring, storage-vessel applicability and equipment leak provisions.

Do the states follow?

No — and that's the operational wrinkle.

Colorado: December 2024 rules cap midstream combustion emissions at roughly 3.93 million metric tons CO2e annually by December 31, 2030 under Regulation 7, Part B, Section VII. February 2025 brought a pneumatic device phase-out; February 2026 tightened instrument-based leak detection even for low-producing, wellhead-only sites; September 2026 added standards for covers, closed vent systems and enclosed combustion devices beyond the federal baseline. "We have broad authority [under Colorado law] to develop and implement state-only rules regardless of what is happening at the federal level," said Stefanie Shoup, deputy director of Colorado's Air Pollution Control Division.

New Mexico: The Methane Waste Rule requires 98% gas capture by December 31, 2026. In July 2026, the Environment Department proposed rule 20.2.51 NMAC with a state super-emitter notification program and zero methane emissions from covered process controllers starting January 1, 2031; hearings run December 1–8, 2026. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said the state's "methane rules will remain firmly in place."

California: CARB's Oil and Gas Methane Regulation (17 CCR §§ 95665–95677), amended in 2024, added remote-monitoring investigation duties — operators notified of a detected plume must inspect within five calendar days. Launching a second methane-detecting satellite in October 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom said, "California is doubling down on methane-detecting technology. We're finding methane leaks and getting them fixed."

What happens next?

The proposal doesn't change current requirements. OOOOb still governs new and modified sources; OOOOc still frames state plans for existing ones. Operators weighing comments — due December 16, 2026 — face the real question: whether federal relief survives contact with state programs that aren't budging.