What the 2024 methane rule required

The rules at the centre of the Trump methane emissions announcement date to 2024, when the federal government set nationwide requirements to limit methane from existing oil and gas facilities for the first time. A 2016 Obama-era rule had covered only new and modified sources.

Operators fell under obligations that touched everyday operations across the sector:

• •Eliminate and minimize leaking, flaring and venting of methane and volatile organic compounds harmful to human health
• •Investigate major leaks near facilities detected by third parties using EPA-approved remote sensing technology, under the rule's super emitter program

The White House case for scrapping the rules

Trump told the Lubbock crowd: "Tonight, I'm officially terminating Biden's expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers". He said the change would save consumers and energy producers $45bn and unlock 210 million barrels of oil, about 10 days of US petroleum consumption, and called the rules "crippling regulations on methane that caused prices to skyrocket" for small operators.

The EPA, under administrator Lee Zeldin, backed the move in a press release describing it as a revision of oil and gas regulations under the Clean Air Act. Zeldin framed the proposal as a way "to end the war on oil and natural gas". The agency said the proposal is expected to save $45bn in costs to consumers and businesses, including small businesses running marginal wells, and estimated it would produce an additional 210m barrels of oil and 1.41tn cubic feet of natural gas.

The EPA had already signalled the direction: in March 2025, Zeldin announced the agency was reconsidering the Biden-Harris regulations "to ensure that they do not prevent America from unleashing energy dominance".

Industry access reported behind the scenes

Records Fieldnotes obtained through FOIA indicate that trade groups and energy corporations lobbied privately to gut the methane regulations even as some executives said publicly that they supported the rule. Calendars, slides and meeting forms show industry groups met with the EPA at least 38 times during the administration's first year to discuss methane regulations.

Fieldnotes researcher Julia Kane called the access extraordinary, noting that industry groups were themselves surprised by how much they got under Trump. "I do think it's just an extraordinary level of access," she said. Lee Fuller of the Independent Petroleum Association of America described one EPA meeting in which staff were suddenly willing to talk about long-sought items, saying "they were suddenly willing to talk to us".

The industry's ties to the president were on display the same day: at a Trump rally in Corpus Christi earlier on Tuesday, Trump shouted out Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources, who was in the audience. In April, Continental Resources wrote to the EPA pushing back against measures in the methane rule that prohibit routine flaring of associated gas.

Critics warn of higher emissions

Opponents point to the stakes: last year the US emitted more methane from its oil and gas sector than any other country, and methane is responsible for at least a quarter of current warming.

The Environmental Defense Fund calculates that since the EPA said in March 2025 it would no longer enforce oil and gas regulations, operators have leaked, vented or flared $7bn worth of natural gas. Rosalie Winn of the EDF said the administration was seeking to curtail the federal government's ability to do anything to address climate pollution, and accused it of enabling the worst polluters in the industry to profit while wasting energy.

The EPA proposal, announced as a revision of oil and gas regulations under the Clean Air Act, now proceeds after the agency began reconsidering the rules in March 2025.