Trump is making it easier for fossil fuel companies to leak methane
Trump is making it easier for fossil fuel companies to leak methane
特朗普正在让化石燃料公司更容易排放甲烷。
The Environmental Protection Agency is lowering standards meant to keep methane from leaking from oil and gas infrastructure.
美国环境保护署（EPA）正在降低旨在防止石油和天然气基础设施发生甲烷泄漏的标准。
In its latest gift to oil and gas companies, the Trump administration is expected to announce plans today to weaken rules that guard against methane leaks.
作为给石油和天然气公司的最新“礼物”，特朗普政府预计将于今日宣布削弱防范甲烷泄漏规则的计划。
Methane is a smog-forming pollutant and a powerful greenhouse gas that’s up to 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide on a 20-year horizon. It’s the primary component of what the fossil fuel industry calls “natural gas” that routinely leaks from oil and gas wells and pipelines.
甲烷是一种会形成烟雾的污染物，也是一种强效温室气体，在20年内其效力最高可达二氧化碳的80倍。它是化石燃料行业所称的“天然气”的主要成分，经常从油气井和管道中泄漏。
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reversing course on its previous efforts to plug those leaks. As part of President Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda, the EPA plans to undo Biden-era rules that were expected to cut methane emissions by 80 percent over 14 years.
美国环境保护署（EPA）正在扭转其此前封堵这些泄漏的努力。作为唐纳德·特朗普总统放松监管议程的一部分，EPA计划撤销拜登时期的规则，这些规则原定在14年内将甲烷排放量减少80%。
The EPA teased the rule change earlier this month, saying in a press release that it was “days away” from making the proposal. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says the rollbacks will save oil and gas companies $45 billion, while the previous rules would have incurred $18 billion in regulatory costs.
EPA在本月初预告了这一规则变更，并在新闻稿中称距离提出该提案仅有“数日之遥”。EPA署长李·泽尔丁（Lee Zeldin）表示，这些撤销举措将为石油和天然气公司节省450亿美元，而此前的规则将产生180亿美元的监管成本。
“This proposal takes on many of the problems American [oil and gas] producers and operators have raised with us,” Zeldin said in the October 7th press release. “The Trump EPA is committed to fixing this so the U.S. can reach its full energy potential.”
“该提案解决了美国（石油和天然气）生产商和运营商向我们提出的许多问题，”泽尔丁在10月7日的新闻稿中说道。“特朗普领导下的EPA致力于解决这一问题，以便美国能够充分发挥其能源潜力。”
The agency is expected to step back standards for so-called “marginal wells” — old wells that produce little fuel but create an outsize amount of methane pollution from leaks. These wells are responsible for half of the industry’s methane emissions despite only producing 6 percent of US oil and gas, ProPublica reports.
预计该机构将放宽针对所谓“边际油井”的标准——这些老旧油井产出的燃料很少，但因泄漏产生的甲烷污染却不成比例地高。据ProPublica报道，尽管这些油井仅生产美国6%的石油和天然气，却造成了该行业一半的甲烷排放。
The EPA is also expected to end the Super Emitter Program that notified oil and gas infrastructure operators of large releases of methane reaching 100 kilograms per hour or more.
预计EPA还将终止“超级排放源计划”（Super Emitter Program），该计划此前负责通知油气基础设施运营商有关每小时达到100公斤或以上的甲烷大规模泄漏事件。
Trump plans to make the announcement from a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, today, Bloomberg reports. Not only is Texas the top oil- and gas-producing state in the US, it’s also the world’s biggest data center market.
据彭博社报道，特朗普计划今天在德克萨斯州拉伯克市的一次竞选集会上宣布这一消息。德克萨斯州不仅是美国最大的石油和天然气生产州，也是全球最大的数据中心市场。
With more data center capacity under construction than any other state, Texas has become emblematic of the challenges energy-intensive AI models pose. In just five years, data centers could undo decades of air quality improvements in Texas, according to a recent report by the Houston Advanced Research Center.
由于在建的数据中心容量超过任何其他州，德克萨斯州已成为能源密集型人工智能模型所带来挑战的象征。根据休斯顿高级研究中心最近的一份报告，在短短五年内，数据中心可能会抵消德克萨斯州几十年来在空气质量改善方面取得的成果。
Methane has caused about 30 percent of global warming so far. But unlike carbon dioxide, which can linger in the atmosphere for hundreds or thousands of years, methane dissipates in a little over a decade. That makes eliminating methane emissions, particularly from unintentional leaks, one of the fastest and most straightforward ways to stop global temperatures from rising.
到目前为止，甲烷已导致了约30%的全球变暖。但与可以在大气中停留数百年甚至数千年的二氧化碳不同，甲烷在十多年后就会消散。这使得消除甲烷排放（尤其是无意泄漏造成的排放）成为阻止全球气温上升最快、最直接的方法之一。
The EPA’s rollbacks quickly triggered furor from health and environmental advocates. “Any proposed rollback to the federal methane rule is a slap in the face to families who are exposed to oil and gas pollution where they live, work, and play,” Celerah Hewes, a senior manager for state field campaigns at Moms Clean Air Force, said in an email ahead of the expected announcement.
EPA的撤销举措迅速引发了健康和环保倡导者的愤怒。“任何对联邦甲烷规则的拟议撤销，都是对那些在生活、工作和娱乐场所暴露于油气污染中的家庭的当头一棒，”Moms Clean Air Force的州外勤活动高级经理塞莱拉·休斯（Celerah Hewes）在预期公告发布前的一封电子邮件中表示。
“For over a decade, [our group] has been fighting for methane protections for our families—and we were making progress. Today’s announcement from EPA is a massive blow to the efforts to safeguard our children’s health and our climate.”
“十多年来，（我们的组织）一直在为我们家庭的甲烷保护措施而奋斗，并且我们已经取得了进展。今天EPA的公告是对我们保护儿童健康和气候所做努力的沉重打击。”
The Biden-era methane rules were estimated to bring in up to $98 billion in benefits by reducing climate risks and health costs from air pollution, even after factoring in the costs of compliance. Plugging leaks was supposed to lead to up to $13 billion worth of recovered natural gas.
据估计，拜登时期的甲烷规则通过减少气候风险和空气污染带来的健康成本，可带来高达980亿美元的收益，即使在计入合规成本之后也是如此。封堵泄漏本应带来价值高达130亿美元的回收天然气。