Methane Down 30% in Permian Basin, Pfluger Tells EPA

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), a member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, participated in an environment subcommittee hearing with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin titled, "The Fiscal Year 2026 Environmental Protection Agency Budget." 

During the hearing, he thanked Administrator Zeldin for coming to West Texas, highlighted his work in cutting back the EPA’s overreach, and asked him about the status of several key policies.

Read highlights below:

Rep. Pfluger: We were very pleased that Mr. Mason, the Region Six Administrator, came and visited the Permian Basin. One of the things we talked about was, with regard to methane, the monitoring that is being done. And to incentivize that good behavior, we have reduced the intensity of methane in the Permian Basin by almost 30%, and that's happened in the last 10 to 15 years, while also increasing the amount of barrels produced from 1 million barrels a day back in 2010 to 6 million barrels a day. And that complexity that goes on to reduce that intensity. We want to work with you. I encourage that to work. Do you have any ideas on where the previous administrator was looking at the Permian Basin in general, to place it into a state of non-attainment with regard to the ozone reporting? Any updates on that for us? This was something that interjected a lot of chaos into that region.

Administrator Zeldin: It's a very important pillar of the power in the great American comeback initiative to advance cooperative federalism. Part of that with the reorganization is creating an office for state air partnerships. Inside the Office of Air and Radiation, we have approved 25 state implementation plans, including a 16-hour backlog from the last administration. We are working through these non-attainment requests and issues, including inside the Permian Basin. We want to be a partner at the EPA for Texas and the local community.

Rep. Pfluger: Well, thank you. It was very apparent to my constituents that the EPA had become weaponized, and working in partnership is exactly the key word. We appreciate that.