The White House announced yesterday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin to “immediately” develop “regulations for methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources.” Although no set timeline was provided, the White House stated the EPA “will move as expeditiously as possible to complete this process.” Moreover, next month the EPA “will start a formal process to require companies operating existing sources to provide information to assist in development of comprehensive standards to decrease methane emissions.”

The statement was made in connection with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to the White House on Thursday and was included in a statement issued by President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau entitled “U.S.-Canada Joint Statement on Climate, Energy, and Artic Leadership.”

This announcement follows the rule announced by the EPA last year regulating methane emissions from new and modified oil and gas sources, and a rule issued earlier this year regulating methane emissions from oil and gas drilling on federal land.

Read the U.S.-Canada joint statement at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/10/us-canada-joint-statement-climate-energy-and-arctic-leadership.