The Senate has approved an amendment to its Clean Air Act reauthorization bill that exempts emissions from U.S. oil and gas production facilities as air toxics subject to regulation.
The Senate energy committee's bill would have included oil and gas wells in the area sources to be controlled, although emissions are very low.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America lobbied for the amendment, which David Boren (D-Okla.) offered on the Senate floor. Five other oil state senators cosponsored the amendment.
Boren said, "Had low emitting oil and gas facilities been subjected to the standards set in the bill, the nation would have lost as much as 25% of the number of producing wells due to the high cost of the original standards."
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