The Trump administration official leading the effort to loosen rules on methane pollution was an oil and gas lobbyist who anonymously wrote the industry’s key argument against the same rules just four years ago.
Aaron Szabo, Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is listed in the PDF metadata as the author of a January 2022 comment letter opposing proposed regulations for methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. The letter was submitted to the EPA by the U.S. Exploration and Production Council, which represents some of the industry’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, including ConocoPhillips, Diversified Energy, and Hilcorp. Szabo’s name does not appear on the document itself, but can be found in information embedded by the software used to create the PDF file.
Szabo was a registered lobbyist for Ovintif, one of AXPC’s lesser-known members, when he drafted the case against the restrictions, which was later finalized in the Biden administration. He has also lobbied for other clients in the petroleum and chemical sectors. Although he didn’t hide his efforts last year when he was confirmed as director of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, he described them in language that avoided references to efforts that affect climate policy: “I learned how regulated companies comply with thousands of federal regulations and policies. I also saw that the people who work at these companies want to make sure the environment is properly protected.”
In his current role overseeing federal climate regulations at the EPA, Mr. Szabo solicits input and even specific regulatory language from oil industry groups that stand to profit from watered-down methane regulations, according to internal emails, calendar entries and records of closed-door conversations reviewed by ProPublica.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, pointed to Szabo’s lobbying efforts as evidence that the EPA was effectively controlled by the oil and gas industry. “This allows him to do Big Oil’s dirty work from within the EPA,” Whitehouse told ProPublica in an email.
As part of its plan to “Unleash America’s Energy,” the Trump administration waged an unprecedented campaign against regulation of fossil fuels, a major cause of global warming. One of the biggest moves was to eliminate the “endangered status” classification of greenhouse gases as pollutants. This is the basis for EPA’s authority to limit emissions. But emails and documents show Mr. Szabo’s office is working on amending the methane regulations rather than repealing them altogether. It has already postponed many compliance deadlines until next year.
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a climate superpollutant and is responsible for one-third of the global temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Studies show that if released into the atmosphere instead of being burned for energy, it can trap 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Oil and gas operations are the largest source of methane emissions in the United States, in part due to leaks from poorly maintained equipment. When collecting gas for sale is uneconomical, companies may intentionally release it in a process known as venting.
To reduce methane emissions, President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency has imposed stricter regulations on oil and gas operations, including requiring increased oversight of leaks and equipment upgrades. The agency estimates the new rules will reduce the industry’s methane emissions by nearly 80%. And given that the gas breaks down relatively quickly, this would have been one of the fastest ways to reduce global warming.
Industry groups objected. In a January 2022 letter that Szabo helped draft, AXPC used the word “burden” 10 times to describe the new requirements and asked for more “flexibility” to allow for cheaper leak detection methods and less frequent monitoring, among other demands.
The group also questioned the expected climate and health benefits of the rule and stressed “the importance of communicating significant uncertainties within estimates.” AXPC CEO Ann Bradbury added in a later statement that the rule “risks lowering U.S. production in the short and long term, leading to higher energy costs and lower energy security.”
Do you have anything we should know about President Trump’s EPA, oil industry lobbying, or methane pollution? Alex Cuadros can be reached at: [email protected] Also in Signal (alexcuadros.63).
AXPC was unable to persuade the Biden administration to change its approach. But the administration ramped up the pressure again after President Donald Trump returned to power and ordered federal agencies to “suspend, modify, or reverse” “undue burdens” on domestic energy production.
Szabo joined the administration from day one as an advisor to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin after two years as a fellow at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. He quickly signaled that he planned to weaken the regulations he had opposed as a lobbyist. Trump’s staff met with AXPC representatives as early as February 6, 2025, less than three weeks after Trump took office, to discuss a petition to “reconsider” methane regulations, according to emails and calendar entries obtained through public records requests and shared with ProPublica by FieldNotes, a watchdog group that tracks the oil and gas industry. His staff has since met with them at least twice, and Mr. Szabo himself was listed as a required attendee in a meeting with Mr. Bradbury last July.
AXPC did not respond to an email from ProPublica seeking comment.
Other oil industry representatives say the meetings with Mr. Szabo and his staff were highly favorable to their interests, according to records of closed-door conversations reviewed by ProPublica. “Mr. Szabo assured us that EPA is focused on these. [methane] We will do everything we can to comply with the rules and limit the damage they cause,” leaders of a major trade association wrote to members in an internal newsletter last year.
Lee Fuller of the Independent Petroleum Association of America also spoke passionately about meeting with Szabo’s office during a conference call with industry representatives last year.
“It was one of the most fascinating meetings we’ve ever had just because they suddenly wanted to talk to us,” he said. “And they’re also suddenly willing to talk about something that we’ve been trying to get them to do for years and it’s never even been on their radar screen.”
IPAA declined to answer specific questions from ProPublica related to a September 2025 letter in which IPAA publicly requested an exception to the methane regulations from EPA.
Szabo’s office even called on oil industry groups to provide specific language for the revised regulations. Mike O’Connor of the American Petroleum Institute said in a letter to EPA officials that “we received inquiries several weeks ago regarding air pressure in temporary equipment,” referring to equipment that is a major source of methane emissions. “EPA has informally requested comment on this topic and the proposed regulatory text language. We are providing the attached draft document as informal comment on EPA’s investigation.” The draft document called for a number of exemptions.
The shift in priorities under Szabo can also be seen in communications from the EPA itself. In a June 2025 email reviewed by ProPublica, agency officials asked to meet with O’Connor to discuss alternative leak detection methods. Echoing the language of AXPC’s comments, which Szabo helped draft, the official spoke of “further flexibility that we would like to pursue.”
“I think their agenda, as far as I can tell, was to do what the industry wanted,” said one former Environmental Protection Agency official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential discussions.
“Since when is it bad for public officials to consult the public?” In an emailed statement, the EPA referred to Szabo’s interactions with oil industry representatives. Mr. Szabo “fulfilled all written ethical obligations. When he joined EPA, he met with EPA’s career ethics staff to ensure that he was aware of and complied with federal ethics requirements.”
His affinity with Zabo is no secret. He has been named and thanked in the EPA chapter of Project 2025, the second Trump administration’s deregulatory blueprint. As part of his appointment to the EPA, he also submitted an ethics disclosure form listing the oil, natural gas, and chemical companies he has lobbied for.
Still, during his confirmation hearing last March 5, he repeatedly declined to elaborate on his role in Project 2025 other than to say he provided “general advice and thoughts” on the Clean Air Act.
