The Interior Department (click here) will propose a one-year delay to methane emissions rules while it considers weakening or rescinding the oil and gas industry regulations.
The rules in question, finalized under President Barack Obama, are meant to reduce leaking, venting and flaring of planet-warming methane from drilling activity. The Trump administration is seeking to roll back the Bureau of Land Management rules as part of a wider agenda of energy sector deregulation.
The BLM "wants to avoid imposing temporary or permanent compliance costs on operators for requirements that may be rescinded or significantly revised in the near future," the Interior Department said in a document it will publish in the Federal Register on Thursday.
It is also seeking to "avoid expending scarce agency resources on implementation activities ... for such potentially transitory requirements."...
Below is a recent tornado in North Dakota oil and gas country. NORTH DAKOTA. This tornado is not new. This has been happening in the Dakota oil fields for at least the past two years.
These tornadoes are dangerous, known to harm property and lives in North Dakota and exist for one reason only, METHANE LEAKS into the air.
April 26, 2016
University of Michigan
The researchers (click here) found that the Bakken Formation, an oil and gas field in North Dakota and Montana, is emitting roughly 2 percent of the globe's ethane. That's about 250,000 tons per year.
"Two percent might not sound like a lot, but the emissions we observed in this single region are 10 to 100 times larger than reported in inventories. They directly impact air quality across North America. And they're sufficient to explain much of the global shift in ethane concentrations," said Eric Kort, U-M assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, and first author of the study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
The Bakken is part of a 200,000-square-mile basin that underlies parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba in addition to the two U.S. states. It saw a steep increase in oil and gas activity over the past decade, powered by advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling.
Between 2005 and 2014, the Bakken's oil production jumped by a factor of 3,500, and its gas production by 180. In the past two years, however, production has plateaued....
Secretary Zinke, by pandering to the petroleum industry, is putting the public in direct danger because of climate anomalies related to methane leaks and a growing greenhouse gas emissions from the USA.
An oath of office and committing to standards of ethical behavior is NOT a political decision!
The Foundation For Ethical Behavior (click here for Interior Department standards to protect the public of which Zinke is currently in violation)
Executive Order 12674
Thomas Jefferson enunciated the basic principle of public service. "When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property." This sentiment has been expressed by numerous others, over time becoming the familiar principle "Public service is public trust."
To ensure public confidence in the integrity of the Federal Government, Executive Order 12674 (as amended) forms the framework for the ethical behavior required and expected of all Federal employees. As a condition of public service, you are expected to adhere to these fundamental principles of ethical behavior:
Public service is a public trust, requiring you to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gain....
