Joe Biden announces stricter regulations on methane leaks

US President Joe Biden is aiming to address climate change on a domestic level as he attends the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow. Biden and his EPA are set to announce stricter policies regarding methane leaks this week.

Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce Tuesday a series of rules to plug methane gas emissions in the oil and gas wells of the US. This marks the Biden administration’s most aggressive move to date in combating the growing threat of climate change on the world. Biden is set to formally announce the measure on the second day of the climate change summit, according to administration officials.

The new rules by the EPA will strengthen the regulations on oil and gas wells while imposing new requirements for existing wells that were able to get away from methane regulations. This will help in Biden’s goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and reach zero-net emissions by 2050. The proposals will also push the US and European Union’s Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by the end of the decade.

According to the White House, over 90 governments have joined in the initiative, among them 15 of the world’s top 30 methane emitters -- US, EU, Indonesia, Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico, Iraq, Nigeria, Vietnam, and Canada.

The EPA’s methane rules also come as a response to Biden’s executive order issued in January to cover three-quarters of all methane emissions in the US. Officials have also revealed that the Biden administration is planning to launch a government initiative to get methane reduction commitments from the oil and gas sectors. This would include the release of the US Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan.

During the event, Biden also took a swipe at Russia and China for not attending the climate change conference. Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping of failure to show leadership in addressing climate change. The US leader described the no-show by Xi as a “big mistake.”

“The fact that China is trying to assert, understandably, a new role in the world as a world leader -- not showing up, come on,” Biden told reporters.

“It just is a gigantic issue and they walked away. How do you do that and claim to be able to have any leadership?” Biden continued. “It’s been a big mistake, quite frankly, for China not showing up. The rest of the world looked at China and said, ‘What value are they providing?’”