Donald Trump wants to favour oil companies that release methane into the atmosphere. Environmentalists are concerned about the effects on global warming.
The government of United States president Donald Trump has begun the legal process to amend a law regulating methane emissions into the Earth's atmosphere. This is yet another decree from the White House incumbent that is causing no little concern among those fighting global warming, and it comes just ahead of the San Francisco summit for environmental protection. The amendment would allow oil companies to release greater quantities of methane into the air during extraction operations.
The exemption, which could come into force within the next 60 days, was issued by the United States Department of the Interior and alters the previous law signed by the administration of Barack Obama. The latter had committed to ensuring that methane released during oil and gas extraction on United States territory would be monitored and, where possible, captured before entering the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas contributes seriously to the rise in the Earth's temperature according to numerous studies, even though it is present in lower concentrations than carbon dioxide. In a move that environmentalists argue is designed solely to favour the oil lobby, Trump has lifted the restrictions proposed by Obama. "That law would have reduced energy produced on American soil as well as job creation and the nation's economic growth," said David Bernhardt, the Interior Department's deputy, to justify the decision taken by his president. Before coming into force, the law will have to pass scrutiny in the Senate, and it is likely that Democratic members, and not only them, will fight to prevent it from being voted through. Among the voices against it, that of former United States Vice President and climate activist Al Gore made itself heard; in a tweet he wrote: "Trump says the methane rule change will save costs for the industrial sector. But what about the price to be paid for our health and that of the climate? We must put the lives of citizens and that of our planet before the profits of those who pollute."
