Ed Markey: “the methane problem is not a new one. It has quickly and drastically warmed our planet since the Industrial Revolution…”

“the methane problem is not a new one. It has quickly and drastically warmed our planet since the Industrial Revolution, and today it accounts for one-quarter of global warming. We have no time to lose. In the short term, methane is more than 80 times more powerful and damaging than its better known cousin named CO<INF>2</INF>. And while we have made more progress reducing our carbon dioxide levels, methane pollution has continued to surge in the background. Even last year, with more cars off the road and many stuck in their homes, methane pollution levels just kept rising. And it rose in record amounts. In 2020, we saw the largest ever annual increase in methane emissions. If we continue to fail to act, methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is projected to cause as much near-term global warming as 260 coal-fired powerplants every year by 2025. This is a crisis brought on by humanity, but, thankfully, it is one that we can solve as well by humanity. We have the technology and we understand the science and we need now to summon the political will and the regulatory leadership in order to solve this methane problem. Last week, I sent a letter to President Biden asking him to lead the world in developing a bold domestic methane strategy, and although the administration's economy-wide goals for greenhouse gas emissions are a good baseline start, we need robust and specific targets for methane.…”