In a letter to the White House, the Gas Processors Association (GPA) urged President Barack Obama to consider existing regulations, methane emissions studies and voluntary actions before issuing new regulations on methane emissions as part of the climate action plan strategy to reduce methane emissions.

The climate action plan was released in March and is the cause of ongoing deliberation by the White House, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the need to reduce methane emissions. As a trade association where its members account for more than 90% of the NGL produced in the U.S., the GPA deems the climate action plan and any actions produced by it a significant issue for its membership.

“GPA recommends that the White House and agencies continue their deliberation of the need and justification for any regulations and not act in haste to impose mandatory requirements in regulations, even if that results in not promulgating regulations by 2016,” the letter said. Citing recent regulations targeting methane emission reduction, the GPA said, “Due to the infancy of these regulations, the full effect of the resulting emissions reductions has not been observed, and the actual costs related to achieving those reductions need to be developed.”

GPA said that there are several methane measurement studies recently published or currently underway, and that government agencies would act wisely to wait for results from the studies before pursuing additional regulation.

GPA also identified several voluntary methane emission reduction initiatives in which its member companies have been involved, including the EPA Natural Gas STAR program.

“GPA has been an endorsing member of the program since 1993, and to date, the program reports methane reductions of 1.15 trillion cubic feet, demonstrating that voluntary programs can be effective in achieving reductions,” said Jeff Applekamp, GPA vice president of government affairs.