The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a sweeping new plan to reduce methane emissions in the U.S., pledging to work alongside E.U. members and others nations to reduce by 30% overall methane emissions by the year 2030.

But President Biden’s announcement – coupled with his recently unveiled Build Back Better framework, which proposes roughly $555 billion for clean energy and climate change initiatives – have drawn consternation from some oil and gas leaders in the U.S., who have so far resisted calls to shift the industry away from its reliance on such emissions.

Speaking to world leaders Tuesday at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Biden described methane emissions as “one of the most potent greenhouse gases there is.” Such emissions, he continued, amount “to half the warming we’re experiencing today.”

"One of the most important things we can do in this decisive decade to keep 1.5 degrees in reach is reduce our methane emissions as quickly as possible,” Biden said in his remarks Tuesday.

"This is going to make a huge difference, and not just when it comes to fighting climate change," Biden continued, adding:  "It’s going to improve health, reduce asthma, respiratory-related emergencies. It’s going to improve the food supply as well by cutting crop losses and related ground-level pollution. And it’s going to boost our economies, saving companies money, reducing methane leaks, capturing methane to turn it into new revenue streams, as well as creating good-paying union jobs for our workers."

The EPA proposal would, in part, establish standards for old wells, impose more stringent requirements for new ones, implement a monitoring program to find and fix leaks, and regulate the capture of natural gas.

But the sweeping new plans announced by President Biden on Tuesday, coupled with the billions in new clean energy spending allocated in his Build Back Better plan, are all but certain to herald major changes for the oil and gas industry.

They’ve also sparked opposition from some Republicans, including many in Texas – the nation’s largest supplier of oil, and a major contributor to the country’s current level of methane emissions.

Unlike other oil- and- gas-producing states, Texas also has no major rules in place to regulate its methane emissions – meaning the new federal directives would pose a major shock to the system.

In an interview with Spectrum News, an executive with the American Petroleum Institute (API) says that while the agency does support the Biden administration's regulatory approach, but are still reviewing the emission plan's many tenets.

“The oil and gas industry is essential in the state of Texas,” Frank Macchiarola, a senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the API, told Spectrum News in an interview.

“It provides $400 billion annually to the state economy, and supports more than 2.5 million jobs – 620,000 of those jobs directly,” Macchiarola told Spectrum News.

“And so … a strong oil and gas industry is essential for a strong Texas economy," he continued. "[And] so, this really is important that we get this right—that we continue to have a strong oil and gas industry for the state of Texas, and that we do everything we can to continue to build on the progress we've made in reducing methane emissions.”

The proposed policy comes as Democrats in Congress are attempting to get President Biden’s sweeping economic and climate plan across the finish line.

Among other things, Biden’s proposed Build Back Better plan calls for more than $550 billion in investments to clean energy initiatives, such as solar and wind power, as well as incentives and electric car tax credits. Republicans are universally opposed to the bill.

Speaking to Spectrum News about the new Build Back Better framework, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, called the plan a “socialist spending spree” that risks doing permanent damage to the state's oil and gas industry.

“The district that I come from includes the Permian Basin, which is the largest oil and gas producing region in the world,” Pfluger said. “It includes 15 million acres of farm and ranch land. This socialist spending spree is aimed at rural America – it will hurt farmers and ranchers and … the gas industry more than any other industry out there.”

After U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Texas to reduce its reliance on oil and gas, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, fired back this week – telling the U.N. last week on Twitter to “pound sand.”

But Texas is also a leader in renewable energy production. And some environmental advocates and others in the petroleum industry say they see an opportunity for Texas, and other states, when it comes to creating clean energy jobs.

In an interview Tuesday with Spectrum News, Colin Leyden, who directs Texas political engagement for the Environmental Defense Fund, said he believes that the state is actually in a positon to benefit from investments in clean energy and growth.

“We've got a lot of opportunity around clean energy here in Texas,” Leyden said Tuesday. “We lead the country in wind power generation; we will soon lead the country in solar generation. We have Tesla relocating their corporate headquarters [to Texas], along with building one of the largest manufacturing plants for electric vehicles in the country. We know that there's other electric vehicle companies looking at locating in Texas.”

“We have enormous opportunity for the oil and gas industry in Houston around hydrogen and carbon capture – so you know, if you’re looking at a state – Texas has … led the country in energy production, and is poised if we do things right to lead the country in the next wave of energy production.”

These benefits, he said, also extend to job creation in the state.

“Texas has, I think, over … 230,000 clean energy jobs right now,” Leyden told Spectrum News. “And the oil and gas industry is obviously an economic driver here in Texas. But it's not the only it's not the only game in town anymore. And as we look at toward the world, it's going through a global energy transition, whether or not the Texas political leaders agree with that or not, it's happening.”

“Oil and gas is going to be with us for a while,” Leyden said on Tuesday. “But the oil and gas that's that we're using needs to be cleaner. And these EPA regulations around methane are what that's all about.”