Deep Dive: Methane

Reckless oil and gas drilling practices on federal lands waste billions of cubic feet of valuable methane every year, hurting taxpayers, consumers, and the climate.

Methane is the largest component of unprocessed natural gas. When companies drill for oil and natural gas, methane is released directly into the atmosphere through purposeful venting (when natural gas is released directly into the atmosphere) and flaring (when natural gas is burned), and accidental leakage. These practices waste valuable, taxpayer owned resources. Not only is gas kept from consumers, but taxpayers are not compensated from its sale, which lowers revenue for state and federal taxpayers.

Methane also carries a significant pollution liability. Methane is a greenhouse gas that has a global warming potential 80 times higher than carbon dioxide for the first 20 years it is in the atmosphere. Natural gas and oil systems are the source of 32 percent of U.S. methane emissions from human activities.

Existing federal oil and gas management practices allow producers to leak, vent, and flare natural gas at an alarming rate. Every year, oil and gas companies waste billions of cubic feet of natural gas extracted from federal lands. Between 2012 and 2021, 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas, worth an estimated value of $949 million, were lost on federal lands. Much of this gas was lost without paying royalties, costing taxpayers millions in lost revenue each year.

Our latest report, Gas Giveaways II, documents how wasted natural gas, the largest component of which is the highly potent greenhouse methane gas, continues to be leaked, vented, and flared from oil and gas operations on federal land.

For more information on lost gas on federal lands, check out additional resources below:

Comments on BLM Proposed Methane Rule: Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) provided comments to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the proposed rule, “Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation.”
Gas Giveaways – Methane Losses Are a Bad Deal for Taxpayers: This report provides an overview of the best available data on the magnitude of gas lost on federal lands, and what those losses reveal about the failure of the policies guiding Interior Department agencies.

Budget Watchdog, All Federal — Ep. 29: Venting & Flaring: A podcast episode on how oil and gas companies waste billions of cubic feet of natural gas extracted from federal lands, royalty-free, every year by just venting it or burning it off.
Plugging the Methane Leak: A Weekly Wastebasket on the need for policymakers to prevent the waste of methane from oil and gas development on federal lands.
Methane Emissions Bills Introduced in the House: An analysis of The Methane Emissions Research Act of 2022, The Methane Super-Emitter Strategy Act of 2022, and The Methane Emissions Mitigation Research and Development Act.
New GAO Report Calls for Increased Methane Regulations: An Our Take on a May 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office titled “Federal Actions Needed to Address Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Development.”
Letter to the Department of the Interior on Methane Waste Prevention Rule

TCS Testimony to House Natural Resources Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee: The prepared Testimony of Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on taxpayer losses from methane waste on federal lands and the Methane Waste Prevention Act.

The New Mexico Boom That Cost Billions: A report on how federal oil and gas policies fail taxpayers in New Mexico.
Methane Waste on Federal Lands: An Issue Brief on methane waste from oil and gas development on federal lands.
The State of Methane: A joint report with The Wilderness Society on the 2016 Bureau of Land Management Waste Prevention Rule and state requirements for methane waste.
A New Gas Rule That Stinks: A Weekly Wastebasket on the 2018 methane waste rule and how it will allow oil and gas companies to waste taxpayer-owned natural gas royalty-free.
Comments to the Bureau of Land Management on the 2018 Methane Waste Rule: Comments against the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rule “Rescission or Revision of Certain Requirements of the Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation.”
Codifying Needless Waste: The Bureau of Land Management Methane Failure: An op-ed in The Hill on the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to formalize the 1979 Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL-4A), which will exacerbate the problem of lost gas on federal lands.
Up In Smoke: Time to Show Taxpayers the Money: A Weekly Wastebasket on TCS’s Gas Giveaways report and the problem of lost gas at the taxpayer’s expense.
Breakdown of the New Interior Methane Rule: An analysis of the Department of the Interior (DOI) final rule to replace, and largely rescind, a 2016 rule that limited the waste of natural gas during oil and gas production on federal lands.
BLM Methane Rule At Risk (2018 Update): A factsheet on Efforts to stop the 2016 methane waste rule and how that will undo steps taken to better ensure taxpayers get a fair return for public natural gas resources.