Methane Fee (EPA)

The Methane Fee, formally the Waste Emissions Charge (WEC), was created by Section 60113 of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which added Section 136 to the Clean Air Act. It directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to collect a per-ton fee on methane emissions that exceed statutory waste thresholds at oil and gas facilities already reporting under Subpart W of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (generally those emitting more than 25,000 metric tons of CO₂-equivalent per year).

The fee schedule set by statute is:

• $900 per metric ton of methane for emissions reported in 2024
• $1,200 per metric ton for 2025
• $1,500 per metric ton for 2026 and after

Thresholds vary by facility type. For production facilities, the charge applies to methane emissions exceeding 0.20% of natural gas sent to sale; for transmission and storage, lower percentage thresholds apply. The statute also includes exemptions for facilities in compliance with EPA's methane performance standards under Clean Air Act Section 111, for emissions caused by unreasonable permitting delays, and for wells permanently shut in.

EPA issued the final WEC rule in November 2024. In March 2025, Congress used the Congressional Review Act to disapprove the implementing rule, and President Trump signed the resolution, nullifying EPA's regulatory framework for collecting the charge. The underlying statutory fee in the IRA remains on the books but lacks an operative collection mechanism absent new rulemaking.

The fee is politically significant because it is the first time the U.S. federal government has imposed a direct price on a greenhouse gas. Industry groups, led by the American Petroleum Institute, opposed it as duplicative of EPA's 2024 methane performance standards, while environmental groups argued the fee was essential to monetize the climate damage of short-lived but potent methane emissions, which trap roughly 80 times more heat than CO₂ over a 20-year period.