    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
    [July 28, 2004]
    [Pages 1417-1418]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on the Methane to Markets Partnership
    July 28, 2004

        Today the United States and several major international partners are
    forming the Methane to Markets Partnership, a new and innovative program
    to increase energy security, improve environmental quality, and reduce
    greenhouse gas emissions throughout the world. The United States will
    commit up to $53 million to the Partnership over the next 5 years. To
    date, Australia, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, and the United
    Kingdom have agreed to participate as founding partners, along with the
    United States.
        Under the Partnership, members will work in coordination with the
    private sector to share and expand the use of technologies to capture
    methane emissions that are now wasted in the course of industrial
    processes and use them as a new energy source. The important benefits of
    this international partnership include improved energy security and air
    quality from the use of clean-burning methane as natural gas, improved
    coal mine safety, enhanced economic growth, and reduced greenhouse gas
    emissions of methane. The Partnership will be led by

    [[Page 1418]]

    Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt, working closely with the Department of State, the
    Department of Energy, and the United States Agency for International
    Development. Administrator Leavitt will host a ministerial-level meeting
    of the founding international partners later this year. I look forward
    to working closely with our international partners to achieve the
    Partnership's important goals.