Inhofe Statement on Obama, Trudeau Announcement to Reduce Methane Emissions

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today released the following statement after the Obama administration announced a pact with Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, to reduce methane emissions from new and existing sources:

“The president's latest announcement on methane emissions shows that his administration is grasping at straws as his Paris climate promise continues to fail and fall apart. Before the Supreme Court issued a stay on the Clean Power Plan, my committee was sounding the alarm that the president had not laid a clear path forward to successfully achieving his emissions reduction goals and that it would require even more harsh, costly regulatory action. This is why I am not in the least bit surprised by today’s announcement.  It is just another unnecessary move in a long line of punitive actions aimed at punishing the oil and gas industry. This is the same industry that has been one of the few sources of light driving the president’s anemic economic recovery despite his attempt to extinguish it. The Obama administration is going after a non-existent problem, but we shouldn’t expect anything different from an administration whose stated goal was to ‘crucify’ domestic energy producers."

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