Austin, Texas – The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) serves as a Small Entity Representative with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide input on federal methane regulations for the oil and natural gas industry. TIPRO issued the following statement in response to the EPA’s proposed methane rule announced on Tuesday:
“TIPRO will continue to engage with the EPA on this important issue as we more thoroughly review the proposed methane rulemaking,” said TIPRO President Ed Longanecker.
We look forward to working with the EPA to minimize the impact of these regulations on smaller producers, particularly as other measures are being considered at the federal level, including a disastrous tax on natural gas in Congress’ reconciliation package that would cripple small Texas oil and gas operators and severely burden American taxpayers. This punitive tax would result in the loss of tens of thousands of direct U.S. oil and gas jobs, increase household energy bills and make our country more reliant on foreign sources of energy.”
The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has demonstrated an incredibly successful track record of embracing innovation not only to meet growing global energy demand, but to mitigate energy emissions. According to data from the World Bank, the U.S. has a much lower flaring intensity than other major producers, and in 2020 was ranked significantly behind other global energy producers like Russia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Algeria, Oman and Iraq.
As the world’s energy needs are only set to increase – natural gas consumption alone is forecasted to rise 31 percent by 2050 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration – demand for Texas oil and gas will continue to grow in the decades to come. TIPRO supports a regulatory framework that encourages domestic producers to responsibly develop our resources here under appropriate environmental standards.
