A roadmap for methane action in Wyoming: Jobs, competitiveness, and a changing energy market

This post was co-authored by John Rutecki, Environmental Defense Fund.

• Global energy markets are increasingly demanding more secure, reliable, and transparent energy supply. That is raising expectations for credible information about how energy is produced — including methane emissions from oil and gas.
• Wyoming has an opportunity to turn strong performance into a competitive advantage that supports jobs, exports, and long-term energy leadership.
• Several Wyoming operators — including Jonah Energy, PureWest Energy, and Williams — are already leveling up through OGMP-aligned solutions.
• The next phase will depend on whether the state can pair strong policy frameworks with robust measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification systems that buyers and investors trust.
• In today’s energy market, lower emissions energy increasingly needs to be proven, not just promised.

At the Wyoming Energy Authority’s Next Frontier Energy Summit, one thing is immediately clear: Wyoming’s methane opportunity hasn’t gone away, but the stakes have risen.

What is shifting is not Wyoming’s resource base or operational capability, but the expectations of the market it is selling into. Energy buyers are increasingly prioritizing reliability, transparency, and verifiable emissions performance as part of how they evaluate supply. That trend is being reinforced by broader energy security concerns, as governments and companies seek stable, predictable energy within a more volatile global system.

Wyoming’s long-standing commitment to responsible stewardship positions it well in this environment. That foundation can translate into a competitive advantage — supporting jobs, sustaining state revenues, and strengthening Wyoming’s role in evolving domestic and international energy markets.

The window is still open

Wyoming still has all the ingredients to lead methane mitigation efforts.

Strong natural resource base. Leading operators, including several already leveling up through the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0, credibly demonstrating low methane intensity. A growing mitigation industry. And widely available, cost-effective solutions that can detect and reduce emissions at scale.

At the same time methane waste remains stubbornly high — meaning the opportunity is still as much about capturing lost value as it is about reducing emissions.meaning the opportunity is still as much about capturing lost value as it is about reducing emissions.

The International Energy Agency’s latest Global Methane Tracker estimates that roughly 70% of methane emissions from fossil fuels — including roughly three-quarters from oil and gas — can be reduced with existing technologies, with more than 30% avoided at no net cost.

The fundamentals haven’t shifted: Wyoming can cut waste, strengthen its energy sector, and compete globally using proven solutions already being deployed today.

There’s nothing to gain from waiting, as the landscape is changing fast. In a tighter global energy system, reducing waste within existing production is an effective energy security strategy by increasing usable supply without new infrastructure or new drilling.

Energy demand is accelerating and operators are moving

AI, data centers, electrification, and industrial growth are driving a surge in electricity demand, including demand for firm, dispatchable power.

Projects like the partnership between PureWest Energy, Prometheus Hyperscale, and Frontier Carbon Solutions illustrate where the market is heading: large-scale energy demand increasingly paired with expectations for verified, lower-emissions supply — along with the jobs and investment that come with meeting that demand.

Operators are already responding.

For example, Jonah Energy became the first U.S. company to achieve OGMP 2.0 Level 5 reporting, signaling growing alignment around measurement-based methane performance.

Several Wyoming operators are already pursuing measurement-based certification and verified gas pathways to meet growing buyer expectations.

This is no longer a future trend. Buyers are beginning to specify emissions performance and aligning procurement decisions accordingly.

Global markets are setting the terms as policy frameworks take shape

The EU Methane Regulation is defining import expectations for gas entering European markets. Asian buyers are advancing transparency initiatives like CLEAN, and OGMP 2.0 is emerging as a benchmark for credible, measurement-based methane performance.

The ability to compete in key markets will increasingly depend on methane performance that is measurable, independently verified, and comparable across jurisdictions and supply chains — with direct implications for Wyoming’s ability to attract investment and sustain energy sector jobs.

Against this backdrop, state leaders are becoming more explicit about the opportunity.

Last year, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, working with partners across the region, released a first-of-its-kind bipartisan Rocky Mountain natural gas roadmap aimed at connecting lower emissions gas to growing domestic and international markets, including Asia.

Markets are increasingly setting the bar. The opportunity now is whether the region can help define what credible, market-recognized methane performance looks like.

Wyoming’s new methane intensity signal

Wyoming has also taken an important step forward, with new legislation that creates incentives for differentiated natural gas products that meet a methane intensity threshold of 0.2%.That sends a meaningful signal. Wyoming’s legislature clearly recognizes that methane performance is both an environmental and economic issue tied directly to competitiveness.

To translate that signal into durable market value, implementation will matter — especially how measurement, verification, and comparability are designed.

For these systems to deliver long-term credibility with buyers and investors, measurement will need to be consistent across operators and markets, verification will need to be independent, and reporting frameworks will need to produce results that are comparable and trusted across supply chains, including for marginal and low-producing wells.

That has implications for both in-state development and access to emerging export markets.

A similar experiment in New Mexico

New Mexico is also linking methane performance to economic competitiveness, but through a different approach.

Its new incentive program rewards operators who achieve higher levels under OGMP 2.0 with faster permitting and reduced routine inspections.

This is a meaningful signal in favor of measurement-based frameworks and international alignment.

As these kinds of incentive systems evolve, long-term success will depend on whether the underlying measurement, reporting, and verification systems are sufficiently robust, transparent, and enforceable to maintain market and public confidence.

As New Mexico and Wyoming advance these programs, they also have an opportunity to help shape how methane performance is recognized across markets—particularly if emerging state systems remain aligned with broader international expectations and comparable across jurisdictions.

A proven path: What strong standards can deliver

There is also a clear example of what strong, measurement-based policy can achieve.

Colorado has spent the past decade building one of the most comprehensive, measurement-based methane regulatory frameworks in the world, with industry support helping to shape and implement these standards. The state has paired early methane rules with continuous improvements and, more recently, a first-of-its-kind greenhouse gas intensity verification protocol grounded in direct measurement.

The results are notable. Independent analyses of satellite data show substantial declines in methane emissions and intensity in the state even as production has continued.

Similar insights are emerging from New Mexico, where satellite observations — including data from MethaneSAT and other aerial and space-based systems—have helped validate lower methane intensity in regulated regions of the Permian compared to less-regulated areas, even as production has surged.

That combination of clear standards, rigorous measurement, and consistent enforcement has helped demonstrate something increasingly important in today’s market: credible methane performance can be achieved at scale.

For Wyoming, these examples underscore a simple point: states that move early to build credible, measurement-based systems will be better positioned to compete in markets that increasingly reward verifiable methane performance.

The risk of fragmentation

Despite this momentum, methane policy in the U.S. is increasingly taking shape through a patchwork of approaches. From regulatory frameworks to incentive-based mechanisms and certification pathways, states are advancing different approaches in parallel, but rarely in a coordinated way.

As these systems evolve, the states that align early around credible, comparable standards have a clear opportunity to lead and to help shape emerging market expectations rather than react to standards developed elsewhere.

Turning potential to proven performance

If Wyoming — and the broader region — want to turn opportunity into durable market advantage, four things matter most:

• First, build comprehensive, measurement-based policy frameworks. Clear, enforceable methane standards — grounded in direct measurement and supported by consistent oversight — provide the foundation for credible emissions reductions at scale. Leading states have shown that well-designed regulations can reduce emissions while supporting continued production and investment.
• Second, strengthen measurement, reporting and verification systems. Robust emissions measurement aligned with global frameworks such as OGMP 2.0, supported by independent verification and transparent reporting is essential for credible, comparable methane performance. It provides the foundation for both market differentiation and workable regulatory frameworks.
• Third, align incentives with verified outcomes. Market-based incentives, certifications, and permitting approaches should be tied to measurement-based and independently verified real-world performance, not estimates or self-reported claims.
• Fourth, enable market interoperability. Align emerging state systems with global expectations, including those of Asian and EU buyers, so methane performance is consistently recognized and comparable across markets.

Wyoming’s methane opportunity is still very real — but it will increasingly be defined by proof, not potential. Markets are moving, buyers are becoming more specific, and measurement technologies are rapidly scaling.

The question now is whether policy and industry systems evolve quickly enough to convert Wyoming’s existing strengths into credible, verifiable performance at the scale global markets increasingly expect.

That question gets more urgent for Wyoming every day, because in today’s energy market, it’s not enough to say gas has lower emissions: it has to be proven.