Heinrich, Whitehouse, Luján, 21 Congressional Colleagues Call on European Union to Uphold Strong Methane Standards

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joined U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) in sending a letter alongside 21 additional Members of Congress, urging the European Union to maintain robust and consistent implementation of the European Union Methane Regulation (EUMR) amidst Trump Administration attacks. The lawmakers stressed that weakening the EUMR or providing broad exemptions would undermine global energy security, worldwide climate progress, and fair competition for responsible U.S. energy producers. 

In their letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, lawmakers emphasized how strong methane standards prevent natural gas waste and cut pollution around the world, “The EUMR is a critical tool to incentivize the capture of natural gas that would otherwise be wasted and emitted into the atmosphere. Setting clear, consistent rules for all suppliers is essential to reduce trade barriers between countries with cleaner oil and gas, provide a credible foundation to reward producers—like many in the United States—that deploy readily available common-sense methane reduction technologies, and alleviate the EU’s dependence on dirty natural gas from Russia,” the lawmakers wrote.  

Globally, methane emissions from the oil and gas sector waste 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year, which is nearly as much natural gas as the United States exports annually. The lawmakers noted that many U.S. companies are already world leaders on methane management and could easily comply with EUMR requirements, “U.S. industry is in a strong position to be a reliable supplier to the EU and comply with EUMR requirements, so long as it can rely on a durable and transparent EU regulatory landscape.”    

Calling for a strategic and durable approach, the lawmakers urged the European Commission to address technical issues as they arise rather than grant broad, unearned exemptions, “We encourage the European Commission to conduct necessary technical consultations with relevant experts across American federal and state governmental entities, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations to support implementation of the EUMR, in lieu of issuing sweeping exemptions that go far beyond the technical and methodological implementation questions at hand.”  

While urging continued, timely enforcement of the EUMR to support responsible energy producers and protect the climate, the lawmakers reaffirmed their commitment to working with the EU, American industry, and the Trump Administration to address implementation challenges. 

Despite the health and economic harms of failing to capture wasted and emitted natural gas, the Trump Administration has increasingly attacked the EUMR. In December, the Department of Energy wrote a letter demanding that the EU delay U.S. data reporting requirements, grandfather all U.S. contracts, and waive penalties for non-compliance from U.S. exports, all of which would enable continued methane pollution and undermine the durability of the EU’s regulatory landscape. These efforts to weaken international methane standards mirror the Trump Administration’s damaging domestic agenda, where the Environmental Protection Agency has delayed and intends to revise domestic methane regulations that would have generated billions of dollars in benefits for Americans. 

In addition to Ranking Members Heinrich, Whitehouse, and Senator Ben Ray Luján, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). Representative Scott Peters (D-Calif.) led the letter in the U.S. House of Representatives.   

The full text of the letter is available here and below.  

Dear President von der Leyen:  

As elected United States representatives committed to protecting the environment while ensuring joint energy security through our strong transatlantic partnership, we write to urge robust and consistent implementation of the European Union Methane Regulation (EUMR). The EUMR is a critical tool to incentivize the capture of natural gas that would otherwise be wasted and emitted into the atmosphere. Setting clear, consistent rules for all suppliers is essential to reduce trade barriers between countries with cleaner oil and gas, provide a credible foundation to reward producers—like many in the United States—that deploy readily available common-sense methane reduction technologies, and alleviate the EU’s dependence on dirty natural gas from Russia.  

The International Energy Agency estimates that 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas are wasted each year from the oil and gas sector—rivaling total annual gas exports from the United States. 70% of these emissions can be captured with existing technology, preventing the needless waste of natural gas, reducing costs for consumers, and abating the release of a potent greenhouse gas with over 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide.  

In 2024, the United States updated federal regulations to improve methane emissions reporting (“Subpart W”) and mitigate methane emissions (“OOOO rules”) in the oil and gas sector. Those rules – which were developed in consultation with U.S. states and industry – set a strong foundation for creating reporting and mitigation requirements comparable to the EUMR. Then, in September 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed suspending Subpart W reporting requirements until 2034, as part of a broader proposed repeal of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. In July 2025, EPA finalized delays to OOOO methane mitigation requirements, expanded these delays in November, and has publicly stated its intention to reconsider the mitigation requirements under OOOO, with no further detail or clarity for industry or our European partners.  

These dramatic, politicized swings in domestic methane regulations are not only detrimental to climate and energy security objectives, but run counter to American industry’s own stated goals for methane management.  

So long as the current delays and revisions stand, no credible case can be made that U.S. federal regulations meet the EU’s requirements for regulatory equivalency. Independent of those federal regulations and policies, however, some domestic oil and gas producers are already leading the charge in deploying advanced methane mitigation and measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV) solutions, in some cases exceeding EPA’s regulatory requirements. U.S. companies have invested tens of millions of dollars to deploy improved mitigation and MMRV technologies and practices. As many producers would only need to demonstrate independent verification of their existing practices to meet the EUMR requirements, there is no risk that the EUMR could create a trade barrier or result in a supply disruption from U.S. producers.  

U.S. leaders in industry and academia have also developed methodologies to track fossil fuels and related emissions across complex supply chains to meet customer demand for verified lower emissions fuels. Thus, U.S. industry is in a strong position to be a reliable supplier to the EU and comply with EUMR requirements, so long as it can rely on a durable and transparent EU regulatory landscape.  

We understand that in December 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) wrote to the European Commission proposing that the Commission grant regulatory equivalence to the United States, delay U.S. emissions reporting requirements until 2035, grandfather all U.S. contracts signed or modified before 2035, and remove any penalties for EUMR noncompliance for imported U.S. hydrocarbons. This would be a misguided approach—not only for the legitimacy and stringency of the EUMR, but also for the U.S. companies whose competitive advantage lies in their demonstrable low-emissions production and who would be ready to meet the demands of the EUMR.  

We appreciate that limited adjustments, such as on emissions accounting scope or certification approach, may be needed to effectively implement the EUMR, given the complex supply chain of the U.S. oil and gas industry. We encourage the European Commission to conduct necessary technical consultations with relevant experts across American federal and state governmental entities, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations to support implementation of the EUMR, in lieu of issuing sweeping exemptions that go far beyond the technical and methodological implementation questions at hand. We offer our support to work together with the Trump Administration, the European Union, industry, and relevant experts to ensure a robust approach. 

However, we urge the EU to reject any U.S. request for regulatory equivalency until and unless Subpart W and OOOO methane rules and enforcement are reinstated and credibly meet the levels of accuracy and ambition articulated in the EUMR. We also urge the EU to retain the timelines, scope, and penalties for noncompliance as they exist currently in the EUMR and prevent any blanket grandfathering of U.S. contracts.