Trump’s EPA would spare 700,000 low-output wells from methane rules while saving operators $42bn

A draft EPA rule would sharply weaken inspection and equipment requirements for more than 700,000 low-producing “stripper wells.” These aging wells produce only about 6% of US oil and gas but are responsible for roughly half of the sector’s methane pollution. An industry estimate cited by ProPublica found that closing the very lowest producers would remove only about 0.4% of national output.

The proposed rollback would save operators an estimated $42bn through 2050. It responds to petitions from small-well trade groups arguing that the Biden-era rules make marginal production uneconomic. That affordability problem is real for some operators; the counterargument is that a business unable to prevent large leaks should not keep producing merely because each well is small.

ProPublica also traces unusually direct industry access. Billionaire Hilcorp founder Jeffery Hildebrand, whose company accumulated many stripper wells, became a major Trump donor. The official overseeing the rollback, Aaron Szabo, is a former Hilcorp lobbyist who previously helped draft an industry argument against the rules. None of that proves a quid pro quo, and Szabo says he followed ethics requirements. It does explain why the rule is receiving scrutiny beyond an ordinary regulatory revision.

The Biden rules were projected to cut methane emissions by about 80% and deliver more than $7bn a year in climate, health and recovered-energy benefits. The Trump proposal counts compliance savings but omits monetized health and environmental costs, making the comparison inherently incomplete.

Exempting wells individually described as “marginal” can create a major national emissions loophole when hundreds of thousands of them leak a highly potent greenhouse gas.