Richard Revesz, director of the Institute for Policy Integrity, testified at a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on July 11 to discuss the proper role of the federal government in environmental regulation. At the hearing, entitled, “Constitutional Considerations: States vs. Federal Environmental Policy Implementation,” Revesz discussed a series of instances in which federal action is desirable.
A portion of Revesz’s testimony focused on fugitive methane emissions from fracking. “Fugitive methane’s interstate—and, indeed, international—impacts make it particularly well suited to federal regulation,” Revesz told the committee. Due to these interstate spillovers, Revesz recommended additional federal performance standards to constrain greenhouse gas emissions from upstream sources like natural gas wells, pipelines, and storage tanks. “Upstream gas infrastructure is already subject to performance standards for the emission of volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. While those standards have the co-benefit of reducing methane emissions, directly regulating methane would generate significant additional reductions.”
In addition to his discussion of regulating methane emissions, Revesz spoke about interstate externalities and the Clean Air Act, and the federal government’s preemption of more stringent state environmental standards. The full text of his testimony is available here and a video of the hearing is available here.