The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy announced on June 21st that applications are open for $850 million in federal funding for projects that will help monitor, measure, quantify, and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sectors. The funding aims to specifically help small oil and natural gas operators reduce methane emissions and transition to available methane emissions reduction technologies, while also supporting partnerships that improve emissions measurement and provide accurate, transparent data to impacted communities.
A competitive solicitation for this funding will enable a broad range of eligible U.S. entities to apply, including industry, academia, non-governmental organizations, Tribes, and state and local governments. This funding opportunity is expected to achieve measurable outcomes for skilled workforce training, community involvement, and environmental justice. Funding applicants are required to submit Community Benefits Plans to demonstrate meaningful engagement with and tangible benefits to the communities in which the proposed projects will be located. These plans must provide details on the applicant’s commitments to community and labor engagement, quality job creation, diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and benefits to disadvantaged communities.
The primary objectives of this funding opportunity announcement are to:
1. Help small operators significantly reduce methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations, using commercially available technology solutions for methane emissions monitoring, measurement, quantification, and mitigation.
2. Accelerate the repair of methane leaks from low-producing wells and the deployment of early-commercial technology solutions to reduce methane emissions from new and existing equipment such as natural gas compressors, gas-fueled engines, associated gas flares, liquids unloading operations, handling of produced water and other equipment leakage.
3. Improve communities’ access to empirical data and participation in monitoring through multiple installations of monitoring and measurement technologies while establishing collaborative relationships between equipment providers and communities.
4. Enhance the detection and measurement of methane emissions from oil and gas operations at regional scale, while ensuring nationwide data consistency through the creation of collaborative partnerships. These partnerships will span the country’s oil and gas-producing regions and draw in oil and natural gas owners and operators, universities, environmental justice organizations, community leaders, unions, technology developers, Tribes, state regulatory agencies, non-governmental research organizations, federally funded research and development centers, and DOE’s National Laboratories.
Additional Resources:
1. Read more details of this funding opportunity.
3.GHG Monitoring, Control, Verification, Reporting
