This Common Dreams article is published here as part of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.

A key oil and gas industry group has developed a plan to dismantle Biden-era climate regulations, including on methane emissions, according to an investigation published Friday in The Washington Post.

The American Exploration and Production Council, a trade group of 30 oil and gas producers, aims to reverse a series of regulations taken by the Biden administration, including the imposition of a methane tax, the Job ” reported, based on AXPC documents that were leaked to Fieldnotes, a climate research group.

AXPC represents major oil companies, including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, whose leaders, Republican nominee Donald Trump, have actively sought contributions in his bid to return to the White House, even making a quid pro quo offer – deregulation in exchange for a billion dollars in cash for the campaign –. at a gathering at Mar-a-Lago in April.

David Doniger, senior advisor to the NRDC Action Fund, affiliated with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Job that Trump had “promised to grant their wishes” and that the leaked documents, which Doniger reviewed at the newspaper’s request, revealed their “wish list.”

Paasha Mahdavi, director of the Energy Governance and Political Economy Lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara, emphasized the comprehensiveness of AXPC’s plans, which he also reviewed.

“They want to completely remove the climate from the political process,” Mahdavi told Job. “They want the government to stop regulating climate issues and stop thinking about climate risks. »

Mahdavi said AXPC documents showed member companies were acting out of step with their own public climate commitments.

“They talk a lot about climate ambitions while doing something different within their companies,” he said. “If you are aligned with the Paris agreement, you cannot be part of a trade association trying to roll back these emissions regulations. These two things are incompatible.

Elizabeth Kolbert, environmental editor at The New Yorkersaid the plans were not surprising but were “still terrifying.”

Some aspects of AXPC’s plans had already been made public, including its goals to increase production and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The leaked documents included a confidential survey of member companies showing that nine of 19 responding companies had increased methane flaring between 2021 and 2023. Natural gas flaring is a long-standing but highly polluting industrial disposal method. The survey also showed that the total amount of flaring at companies increased by 20% between 2022 and 2023.

Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, although its effects don’t last as long. Methane emissions are responsible for about 20 to 30 percent of global warming since the 1700s, scientists estimate, second only to carbon dioxide. Fossil fuels are a major source of these methane emissions, alongside modern agricultural practices and other causes.

In March, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its methane rule, which is expected to reduce gas emissions by up to 80% over 14 years. A group of Republican-led states and fossil fuel interests challenged the rule in federal court. The case is ongoing, although the plaintiffs’ request for an emergency injunction from the U.S. Supreme Court on this rule failed, so the regulation remains in effect.

The documents also show a number of other orders and regulations in the industry’s crosshairs. One is a sweeping executive order issued in the first week of the Biden administration to establish a “whole of government” approach to tackling the climate crisis; it includes goals to limit drilling on federal lands and decarbonize the grid. AXPC is also seeking to overturn a decree that requires companies to disclose climate-related financial risks.

End the pause on LNG exports?

Other elements of the AXPC roadmap include lifting the Biden administration’s pause on LNG exports and rescinding a rule requiring climate consideration in major LNG projects. ‘infrastructure. The group also wants to see a decree promoting fossil fuel production.

AXPC spokesman Mark Bednar, who previously worked for then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, told the Job that “our board documents make it clear that our priorities are the same regardless of who sits in the White House.”

However, this plan, which goes against the objectives of the Democratic Party, will only be feasible if Trump returns to power.

Trump has regularly called oil and gas executives in recent months “to hear their wishes and raise money for the campaign.” Job reported. As a group, AXPC has not contributed to the Trump campaign, but executives of its member companies are Trump donors and fundraisers.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which this week released a major report showing that the world’s nations were not on track to meet crucial climate goals, has documented the dangerous rise in global emissions of methane, making the agency a target of the fossil fuel industry. .

At a fundraiser this summer, fossil fuel executives told Trump he should push to replace Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, according to the Jobquoting an anonymous participant.

ExxonMobil distanced itself from the leaked documents, telling the Job that he does not agree with all of AXPC’s positions and that he has sharply reduced his methane emissions and supports the methane tax.

ConocoPhillips did not respond to a request for comment from Job but stated in his filings that he supported AXPC’s position on methane.