WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is finalising requirements meant to stem methane emissions from oil and natural gas wells on public land nearly a decade after the federal government first moved to crack down on the greenhouse gas releases. 

The final rule imposed by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management requires operators of oil and gas projects on federal land to do more to find and arrest methane leaks. It also sets limits on how much natural gas can be flared – or burned off – before companies are charged royalties on the waste.