Healthy Climate Wisconsin’s Leaders Applaud the EPA’s New Safeguards to Slash Methane Pollution

Madison, WI – Doctors, nurses, and health professionals from Healthy Climate Wisconsin applaud the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new safeguards which will cut dangerous methane emissions and other harmful air pollution and improve public health, especially for frontline communities located near oil and gas operations.

“As a physician, it is hopeful that methane pollution will be more tightly controlled to protect vulnerable communities as well as oil and gas industry workers from this toxic and highly potent greenhouse gas,” said Claire Gervais, a family medicine physician and Healthy Climate Wisconsin Board Member.

Oil and gas operations are the nation’s largest industrial source of methane, a harmful “super pollutant” that puts Wisconsinites at risk of conditions like asthma, cancer, heart attacks, and premature death. Oil and natural gas operations are also significant sources of smog-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can increase asthma attacks and other respiratory problems, as well as toxic air pollutants such as benzene that can increase cancer risk.

The EPA’s new safeguards will prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane emissions from 2024 to 2038. That’s nearly 80 percent less than projected methane emissions without the rule. The rule will also avoid 16 million tons of ozone-forming VOC emissions and 590,000 tons of air toxics, yielding net climate and health benefits of $97 to $98 billion from 2024-2038, or about $7.3 to $7.6 billion a year after accounting for compliance costs.

Methane is many times more potent than carbon dioxide and is responsible for approximately one-third of the warming from greenhouse gases occurring today. Slashing methane pollution is critical to meeting the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoiding further escalation of extreme weather events, including extreme heat, floods, and wildfires. Extreme heat due to climate change can cause heat stroke and exacerbate chronic illnesses, such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

“The EPA ruling is a huge win for the health of our communities who deserve strong safeguards from oil and gas pollution,” said Joanne Bernstein, an internal medicine physician and member of Healthy Climate Wisconsin. “Now the work begins to implement and enforce the methane rule so that Wisconsinites immediately experience the significant health benefits of moving away from dirty fossil fuels toward a clean and more just energy future.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.