The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy awarded New York State $8 million from the Methane Emissions Reduction Program.
The funds, included in the Inflation Reduction Act, bolster New York’s ongoing efforts to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas infrastructure, as well as protect ground and surface waters.
The $8 million in federal funds will be used to further the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) efforts to monitor and mitigate methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as the State works to plug wells with a focus on wells with individual landowners listed as operators. The funds are part of $350 million awarded to 14 states that will help measure and reduce methane emissions, one of the biggest drivers of climate change. The funding, which is made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — the largest federal climate investment in history — will help New York and other states support industry efforts to cut methane emissions from active wells and support environmental restoration of well sites.
The Methane Emissions Reduction Program also provides a combination of technical and financial assistance to New York to help well owners and operators voluntarily identify and eliminate methane emissions from low-producing conventional oil and gas wells, also referred to as marginal conventional wells, with disproportionately high methane emissions.
“New Yorkers are feeling the impacts of climate change all across the State, and in response, we are taking bold action and building a stronger, more resilient New York with the help of record State and Federal resources,” Governor Hochul said. “The Biden-Harris Administration and our federal partners are recognizing the importance of reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions through the Methane Emissions Reduction Program, and strengthening New York’s commitment to confronting the existential threat of climate change head-on.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said, “Upstate New York, from the Southern Tier and Central New York to Western New York and the Finger Lakes, has long been plagued by orphaned oil and gas wells creating hidden hazards that pollute our backyards, drinking water sources, and worsen climate change. Now, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act that I championed, New York will receive $8 million to reduce noxious methane pollution from these wells. I am proud to deliver this major federal investment to help fight climate change and ensure that municipalities do not have to take on the full financial burden to clean up the polluting remnants of the fossil fuel industry in Upstate NY.”
