The chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday that the oil and gas trade group is exploring a potential substitute for EPA’s greenhouse gas reporting program if the agency scraps it as planned.
“You should expect if the [Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program] goes away, API will have a replacement program in place,” Mike Sommers, the institute’s CEO, said on the sidelines of the group’s annual State of American Energy event.
Sommers also spoke to reporters Tuesday about API’s desire to overhaul the U.S. permitting system — calling it the group’s “top legislative priority” — as well as a need to see policy changes within Venezuela if U.S. oil and gas companies are going to invest there as President Donald Trump has asked. Sommers also said the U.S. oil and gas industry is committed to being a stabilizing force in Iran if that country’s regime falls.
In September, EPA published a proposed rule that would end mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting for the country’s largest polluters. While EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has characterized the roughly 15-year-old program as “nothing more than bureaucratic red tape,” API has said it should be kept.
