Governor Newsom doubles down on methane tracking as Trump moves to weaken pollution protections | Governor of California

Oct 27, 2026

Governor Newsom doubles down on methane tracking as Trump moves to weaken pollution protections

California-based partnership expands satellite monitoring to find major methane leaks, protect communities, and combat climate change

What you need to know: Governor Newsom highlighted the launch of a second methane-detecting satellite that will help California find major pollution sources and get them fixed, even as the Trump administration moves to weaken federal methane pollution protections. California’s satellite program has already helped stop 50 major methane leaks.

SACRAMENTO – Building on California’s success using satellite technology to find and stop major methane leaks, Governor Gavin Newsom today highlighted the recent launch of Tanager-2, a second methane-detecting satellite that will strengthen the state’s ability to track and cut pollution. The announcement comes as the Trump administration today signaled plans to eliminate federal protections requiring oil and gas companies to investigate major methane leaks detected through satellites and other monitoring technologies.

Last November, Governor Newsom announced that California’s Satellite Methane Program, known as CalSMP, had helped resolve 10 major methane leaks in its first six months using data from the Tanager-1 satellite. Today, that tally has grown to 50 large leaks, including 20 leaks at oil and gas facilities and 30 at landfills. The oil and gas leak repairs alone prevented planet-warming pollution equivalent to taking 42,000 gasoline-powered vehicles off the road for a year.

California is doubling down on methane-detecting technology to find methane leaks and push polluters to clean them up, even as Donald Trump makes it easier for them to poison America’s communities. We’re finding methane leaks and getting them fixed. This second satellite means more eyes in the sky to help stop pollution on the ground, protecting California workers, families, and children.

Governor Gavin Newsom

Advanced satellite sensors pinpoint methane leaks, and the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) public dashboard tracks their locations and progress toward stopping them. The new Tanager-2 satellite will double the project’s coverage. That means more opportunities for targeted monitoring to spot and fix major methane releases more quickly.

Turning satellite observations into action

California uses satellite observations to identify large methane plumes, alert facility operators, and track their response. Adding a second satellite will strengthen the monitoring behind that work, helping the state find more emissions events and check whether operators have addressed them.

Once the data is received, addressing a leak can happen quickly. For example, in late August, California used satellite data to identify a large methane plume linked to oil and gas equipment in the Midway-Sunset oil field, southwest of Bakersfield. After CARB was notified, the source of the leak was promptly located by the operator at a flange on top of a storage tank, and repairs were completed that same day.

“The Trump Administration continues to repeal critical protections — this time on methane, a potent climate change-causing super pollutant,” said California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Yana Garcia. “Removing federal regulations controlling methane leaks from oil and gas rewards polluters at the expense of the public’s health and will worsen climate change far beyond our borders. In California, we once again refuse to go backward. We will continue to take aggressive, science-based action to identify and address methane leaks with cutting-edge technology and policy tools designed to protect people and our planet.”

The federal rollback targets the requirement for oil and gas operators to respond to qualifying third-party reports of major methane releases. California’s program shows why connecting detection with follow-through matters: identifying pollution is only the first step; stopping it is the goal.

“Reckless federal rollbacks don’t change California law. Our methane regulations remain in place, and we’ll keep using every tool we have to cut pollution and protect communities,” said CARB Chair Lauren Sanchez. “The California Methane Satellite Project has already helped us stop 50 major leaks at oil and gas facilities and landfills statewide. This new satellite builds on that success, so we can find more leaks, fix them faster, and further reduce one of the most potent climate pollutants. We’re showing the world what strong regulation and innovative technology can do together.”

Why it matters

Methane is the second-largest source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions with a warming impact up to 80 times greater than carbon dioxide, and reducing it is critical to protecting public health and reducing deadly pollution. Methane remains in the atmosphere for about a decade, which has two important implications: most damage occurs relatively quickly, and reducing those emissions can deliver significant climate benefits in the near term.

The new methane-detecting satellite supports California’s work to limit methane leaks and safeguard Californians’ health and well-being. That includes CARB’s Oil and Gas Methane Regulation, which requires operators of oil and gas field equipment to inspect their systems every quarter and to repair above-ground leaks, and CARB’s Landfill Methane Regulation, which requires large landfills to monitor and capture their methane emissions.

These satellites strengthen California’s pollution monitoring and oversight by enabling California to detect and notify operators of leaks in near real time.

First-in-the-nation satellite technology

The program uses satellite technology with specialized sensors mounted on the satellite to find and track large plumes from me