Why Big Oil Is Asking EPA Not to Cut its Polluter Reporting Program
The oil and gas industry says it needs the program’s data to conduct business.
Emissions rise from an oil refinery in Norco, Louisiana.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergThe Environmental Protection Agency says its proposal to stop greenhouse gas reporting for big polluters could save oil and gas companies up to $256 million a year. Some of them are countering that it could hurt their business instead.
Companies, industry trade groups and other energy experts warn that axing the more than a decade-old Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program could immediately jeopardize oil and gas firms’ ability to claim highly valued tax credits. It could also hurt companies selling liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to Asia and Europe in the future, they say, where less carbon-intensive energy sources are increasingly more desirable.