The White House has announced the possibility to launch new rules to reduce emissions of methane from oil and gas industry, in order to study the importance of the greenhouse gas impact. This announcement responds to the pressure and to the requests of environmental groups calling for a better regulation for the oil and gas industry: without this plan, US cannot achieve its commitment to cut greenhouse gas emission by 17 percent from its 2005 levels. This strategy involves the intervention of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will have the aim to analyze the magnitude of methane leaks from fracking sites, compressors and gas pipelines. After the results of these studies, the EPA will decide whether to undertake new rules and better controls on the industry. In this way the Obama’s policy for the safeguard of the environment will be completed. Methane represents the primary component of the natural gas: it is more than 80 times more powerful than the carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a period of twenty years. The main industrial source of methane consists in oil and gas sites. According to the EPA’s greenhouse gas inventory, 14 percent of pollution in 2013 was caused by methane. Also, it is expected that this percentage will increase. Moreover, shale gas plays a central role in Obama’s strategy to reduce the impact of the polluting coal. However, there are more obvious evidences of the negative consequences of the methane leaks escaping into the atmosphere. The National Academy of Sciences had reported last November that the EPA had under-estimated the effects of methane leakages: studies show that methane pollution will alarmingly increase to over 620 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution in 2030 without stronger controls on industry. In this frame of environmental protection, the White House has affirmed that the task of the EPA is to establish new rules for future and existing landfills. At the same the Department of Energy will start to examine the potential of capturing and storing methane in underground waste dumps. The gLAWcal Team Monday, 31 March 2014 (Source: The Guardian)