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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

First Limits on Methane Emissions: Good for Ohio's Air and Economy?

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Thursday, January 15, 2015   

COLUMBUS, Ohio - President Obama's new proposal to cut methane emissions could improve the air and economy of Ohio.

The proposal, announced Wednesday, calls for a 45 percent reduction in methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by 2025.

Andrew Williams, state regulatory and legislative affairs manager with the Environmental Defense Fund, says it's a landmark step forward in reducing climate change.

"The EPA's announcement to directly regulate methane is positive for everyone, especially those of us here in Ohio," he says. "Methane is a dynamic climate pollutant, some 84 times as potent as carbon dioxide."

Some in the energy industry argue the regulations are unnecessary because methane emissions from oil and gas production have fallen in recent years. But Williams says those reductions occurred largely in response to state and federal policies, not voluntary measures. Meanwhile, he says the proposed rules need to go further and include measures to address current emissions sources, not just new facilities.

Reducing methane emissions could also spur economic growth. Williams says there are already more than a dozen facilities in Ohio that build, sell or service methane controls to prevent or reduce emissions.

"In a state where there's a need for jobs, this methane-control industry brings to the table a real opportunity for added jobs in Ohio," says Williams. "These are added-skilled jobs, highly paid jobs."

Williams adds that Ohio is among several states leading efforts to curb methane emissions, with new regulations last year on natural gas and oil drilling.

"The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has required leak detection and repair at unconventional or horizontally drilled well sites," he says. "This provides a mechanism to require producers to survey well sites, find leaks, and then fix them in a timely manner."

The federal EPA will soon begin its rule-making process, and a draft rule could be ready by summer.


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