Texas and 13 other states are set to receive $350 million in federal grants to help measure and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, the Department of Energy (DOE) said December 15. The funding is part of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP), which was created when the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed in August 2022. (For more on MERP, see Cover Me.)
The funding will provide technical and financial assistance to states to help well owners and operators identify and eliminate methane emissions from low-producing conventional oil and gas wells with disproportionately high methane emissions.