Energy Producers Protect the Environment

Reducing production-related emissions is a priority for the energy industry, and a concerted effort by the companies involved in oil and natural gas production is having successful results in cleaning up the environment.

The Environmental Partnership – now numbering 65 energy producers – is making great strides in removing unnecessary methane emissions that have been an unwelcome by-product of natural gas extraction. National Center President David A. Ridenour calls these companies “an unlikely new ally” of environmental activists in the effort to reduce emissions.

In a Washington Examiner commentary, David remarks that “some environmentalists dismissed it as a PR stunt. But its achievements have proven very real.”

As David explains:

This progress shouldn’t come as a surprise. It fits within the broader story of our nation’s natural gas renaissance.

The advent of sophisticated extraction techniques like fracking and horizontal drilling has made our nation the world’s top producer of natural gas. Yet even as production hits record heights, methane emissions have plummeted, thanks to companies’ investments in environmentally-friendly equipment and practices.

Among the pro-production methods that the Environmental Partnership have employed to reduce methane emissions are:

  • Finding and fixing leaky drilling equipment
  • Upgrading high-bleed pneumatic controllers
  • Enforcing best practices during the extraction process

Not only does the Environmental Partnership help promote America’s increasing energy independence, but it is also valuable in proving that industry can and does successfully work to decrease unwanted threats to the environment – reducing the need for government regulation and enforcement.

To read all of David’s commentary – “An Unlikely Ally in the Fight to Reduce Greenhouse Emissions” – click here to go to the Washington Examiner website.



The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.