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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.

Obama Seeks to Regulate Energy Industry, Curb Climate Impacts

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Thursday, January 15, 2015   

DENVER - President Obama's latest executive action to fight climate change takes aim at Colorado's booming oil and gas industry.

For the first time, the federal government would directly regulate the energy industry under the Clean Air Act for its methane emissions. The plan sets methane pollution control standards for new equipment, but not for existing equipment.

According to Earthjustice staff attorney Tim Ballo, methane is of concern because it's 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

"To really address climate pollution, we need to not only be focused on carbon dioxide but also on methane," says Ballo. "This is a crucial first step to doing that."

Earthjustice had sued the Environmental Protection Agency, alleging it wasn't doing enough to control methane being wasted by energy developers. In Wednesday's announcement, the President said the oil and gas sector is the biggest industrial methane polluter. The White House wants the industry to cut methane pollution by 40 to 45 percent over the next ten years.

While some methane is released intentionally through flaring at well sites, Ballo says most is the result of leaks and faulty equipment. Altogether, he says oil and gas companies release almost eight million tons of methane into the air every year.

"To put that into perspective," says Ballo, "that's the amount of natural gas basically needed to heat 6.5 million U.S. homes."

According to Ballo, the White House plan does need to prioritize fixing leaks and replacing parts in aging wells, pipelines and equipment.

Some critics are calling the plan an attack on the energy sector, and predicting it will drive up production costs. Others see it as the industry's chance to make a greater profit utilizing what's currently being wasted by releasing methane into the atmosphere.


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