US President Donald Trump signed into law the Congressional Review Act, which aims to block the implementation of a fee on oil and gas companies for excess methane emissions. The methane fee was part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed under former President Joe Biden's administration in 2022.
The fee, known as Waste Emissions Charge (WEC), was authorized by the IRA and was to be enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) beginning in November 2024. The move by the White House comes after Republican leaders have spent months casting the fee as the equivalent of a natural gas tax and 22 states had filed a lawsuit against the EPA to halt its enforcement.
Methane, the main component of natural gas, was targeted by the IRA because it is considered a planet-warming gas about 28 times more potent than CO2. During the oil and gas drilling process, companies often burn off or vent some of the gas rather than capturing it for sale.
The WEC applies only to the highest emitters—those that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year—and started at $900 per metric ton last year, increasing to $1,200 this year, and was set to increase to $1,500 in 2026. Some of the money collected under the methane fee program was to be used to fund the installation of emissions-reducing technology at oil and gas sites.
It is not immediately clear what impact overturning the 2024 rule implementing the law will have. Despite the signed resolution from the White House, the IRA remains US law, raising uncertainty over whether the resolution has the authority to unilaterally remove the methane fee.
Republicans in Washington, DC, however, are working on a broader legislative package in the coming months that is expected to repeal the IRA entirely.
Industry groups have applauded the attempt to kill the methane fee, with the American Petroleum Institute (API) calling it a “redundant” rule that “penalizes early adopters of methane-cutting technologies.”
“This bipartisan resolution is an important step toward repealing the so-called ‘methane fee’—a duplicative, punitive tax on American energy production that stifles innovation,” Amanda Eversole, API executive vice president and chief advocacy officer, said in a statement. “Thanks to industry action, methane emissions continue to decline as production increases, and we support building on this progress through smart and effective regulation.”
Anne Bradbury, chief executive officer of the American Exploration and Production Council, issued a statement following the passage of the Congressional Review Act, saying, "While American energy producers remain laser-focused on reducing methane emissions, this punitive rule risked undermining those efforts."
