Biden Tightens Planned Methane Curbs on Oil Wells, Flaring (1)

The Biden administration is strengthening its plan for limiting methane emissions from oil and gas wells after environmentalists panned an earlier version as too weak.

The Environmental Protection Agency advanced the supplemental proposed rule on Friday, hours before President Joe Biden was set to tout US efforts to fight climate change at the COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. The proposed regulation would require energy companies to do more to stifle leaks.

The measure, which isn’t set to be finalized until next year, responds to criticism by environmentalists by strengthening leak-detection-and-repair requirements for small oil and gas wells and by establishing ...