Target: Lee Zeldin, Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency
Goal: End plans to scale back methane regulations and penalties for violators.
Another day brought another big win for the world’s biggest polluters, otherwise known as super-emitters. Against the backdrop of a large plume of detected methane just miles away, President Trump announced during a Texas rally that methane regulations previously put in place to curb a major global warmer and public health hazard would be no more. As another gift to special interests, strong penalties enacted against the worst pollutant offenders will be entirely abolished.
Methane – a byproduct of fossil fuel production – is estimated to put heat stress on the planet at a rate of 80 times more than carbon dioxide. By and large, climate researchers believe cutting methane emissions is perhaps the best and fastest means of meeting pledged climate goals and reducing global warming. And the technology to identify bad actors in unchecked methane emissions has never been better or more accurate, encompassing everything from satellites to laser pulses. Unfortunately, the federal government as it stands now appears entirely uninterested in lessening the far-reaching impacts of global heating, while other major polluters like China have begun creating and implementing concrete plans of action.
Sign the petition below to demand one of the world’s top methane polluters do its part in being a good and responsible citizen of the planet we all call home.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Administrator Zeldin,
Asian countries on a large scale have surpassed their American and European counterparts in confronting and mitigating the devastating and long-term impact of methane emissions on the world. Even Kazakhstan has become a model and example of how to do things right. Once classified as a super-emitter, this nation has drastically cut its footprint of a fossil fuel byproduct responsible for global heating on a scale that far surpasses carbon dioxide.
In stark contrast, America’s president, legislative body, and its so-called Environmental Protection Agency have handed gift after gift to special interests that would sooner put public health and environmental wellness at risk than lose a fatter profit margin. Ironically, the escape of methane into the atmosphere eats into these companies’ bottom lines. It is far past time that you live up to the mission for which you took an oath.
Do not roll back methane regulations or needed accountability. Strengthen these guardrails and honor your commitments to this job, to adversely impacted communities, and to an ailing planet.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: US Geological Survey
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