As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. C. R. No. 47

2025-2026

Representatives Mathews, A., Moore

A c o n c u r r e n t R E S O L U T I O N

To urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review and reconsider certain rules that impact our country's energy security and Ohio's small conventional oil and gas operators.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE SENATE CONCURRING):

WHEREAS, The State of Ohio and its smaller conventional oil and gas operators play an instrumental role in supporting American energy dominance both within the country and globally at a time when American energy is most essential; and

WHEREAS, The rules issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) under the previous Biden Administration are having devastating impacts on our nation's energy security and Ohio's oil and gas producers, particularly the rules under 40 C.F.R. Part 60 Subparts OOOOb and OOOOc, commonly referred to as the "Methane Rule"; and

WHEREAS, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on April 8, 2025, aimed at "Protecting American Energy from State Overreach" urging federal agencies, including the USEPA, to review and reduce regulatory burdens on domestic energy production, including environmental and climate-related measures that affect oil and gas regulations; and

WHEREAS, The Methane Rule has wide-ranging detrimental impacts on Ohio's small oil and gas operators and, if left in place, could potentially shut down an important part of Ohio's energy sector, which employs thousands of our constituents; and

WHEREAS, The Methane Rule has already caused new conventional oil and gas drilling in the state to decline dramatically over the past few years, and those remaining conventional wells that are able to come online typically produce between fifty to one hundred barrels per day for several years before their natural decline brings production below the historical standard for a marginal well of fifteen barrels per day; and

WHEREAS, The Methane Rule, as implemented, prevents routine venting or flaring off the associated gas from these wells, which was previously considered the safest and most feasible options for marginal wells; and

WHEREAS, The Methane Rule currently requires that marginal wells be connected to a sales line as the primary economically productive option for handling the well's associated gas, which in Ohio can cost more than $500,000 to accomplish, thus rendering the well uneconomical from the start; and

WHEREAS, Ohio is facing historic electricity demand growth, while demand for oil and natural gas continues to grow, and it is critically important that we work to ensure an effective and efficient regulatory structure to promote energy production in Ohio and across the nation; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 136th General Assembly of the State of Ohio, urge the USEPA as it continues to review and reconsider its current rules related to energy production to consider one or more of the following revisions:

1. An exemption for low-production oil wells from the Methane Rule, based on tons per year in excess at a level of twenty tons per year, or to allow for the continuation of venting and flaring for this small but important sector of the industry;

2. To classify conventional operators as a "small well site" rather than continuing to consider them a "large well site" and thus subject to the same regulations as large-scale shale operations, which brings substantial compliance burdens for the smaller operators;

3. To consider extending the concessions granted to the State of Alaska regarding pneumatic controls for all remote areas that do not have electricity hook-ups available and for areas where temperatures are below freezing for more than thirty days per year; or

4. To consider granting an exemption from the Methane Rule for marginal wells, with fifteen barrels of oil equivalent per day as the standard for any marginal well exemption; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, the Administrator of the USEPA, and the news media of Ohio.