President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday (October 27, 2026) a sweeping rollback of rules that stop oil and gas producers from emitting methane, a greenhouse gas super pollutant. U.S.
An Environmental Protection Agency statement earlier this month gave the same $45 billion figure in cost savings, without offering a detailed breakdown of the savings.
“Tonight, I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers $45 billion,” Mr. Trump said at the rally in Lubbock, Texas. “Americans must be able to afford to heat their homes in the winter and fill up their car and drive to work,” said EPA administrator Lee Zeldin. “They can’t do that when the people producing the energy are weighed down by unnecessary burdens.”
Polls show Republicans could lose control of Congress to the Democrats in next week’s vote.
“Lee Zeldin’s EPA is giving oil and gas corporations exactly what they’ve long wanted: a toothless methane standard they can use to pretend they’re well-regulated, all while they continue to knowingly leak and flare dangerous amounts of the heat-trapping gas,” said Julia Kane, a researcher at oil and gas watchdog Fieldnotes. The United States is the world’s leading emitter of methane from its oil and gas sector, followed by Russia, according to the International Energy Agency.
