LETTER: Act now to curb methane emissions

As the world paused in 2020 to address the impacts of a global pandemic, so did much of the industrial development that has been fouling our air for far too long. But this silver lining did not last as we are now seeing shale gas production in Pennsylvania returning to pre-COVID levels.
Along with this increase in natural gas production will come the corresponding jump in methane pollution. These emissions are known to warm our planet at a rate far quicker than carbon dioxide and are making an urgent climate crisis even worse, if that’s possible.
Cutting methane emissions now is critical to our future. Gov. Tom Wolf has a proposal to do just that, but his rule needs to be strengthened so that the over half a million tons of methane emitted by low-producing wells in the state are taken into account. This is half of our annual oil and gas methane emissions total – yes, over a million tons per year – so this loophole in the rule must be closed.
Oil and gas development in Southwestern Pennsylvania has come at a steep price to climate and public health. Wolf realizes that and President Biden gets it, too, as do the over 70% of Pennsylvanians who support regulation to cut methane emissions. We need to take quick action now, right now, before it’s too late.
Lois Bower-Bjornson
Scenery Hill