Legal support for methane accumulation activities in the energy transformation system

The article is devoted to the analysis of certain aspects of legal support for economic activities related to methane accumulation in the energy transformation system. It has been established that current methane gas legislation is shaped primarily by the provisions of the law on coalbed methane, as well as by the norms of subsoil, land, mining, oil and gas, fuel, environmental, labor, and administrative law. It is noted that coalbed methane gas is considered in national legislation to have several legal statuses: - a mineral of national importance; - an alternative type of gas fuel; - a hazardous production factor; - a greenhouse gas; - a pollutant; - a material and/or energy resource. The article systematizes legislative and subordinate legislative acts regulating certain types of methane gas relations. It is argued that Ukraine has laid the legal foundations for methane gas (coalbed methane) legislation in the form of a special law on gas (methane) from coal deposits, which, in terms of methane accumulation, regulates only certain relations. The extremely important role of such international methane initiatives as the Global Methane Initiative and the Global Methane Pledge is noted. Issues of a general nature, intergovernmental cooperation, European and national regulation that must be taken into account in the course of economic activities related to methane accumulation have been identified, including the implementation of the EU Methane Regulation, the inventory of all closed and abandoned underground mines that are no longer in operation, including the requirement to measure methane in all such mines and the prohibition of ventilation and flaring from all such mines. It is noted that current domestic legislation in the field of methane accumulation in coal deposits requires resolution of such problematic issues as conflicts between subsoil and mining legislation, the complexity of the permitting mechanism, environmental standards and safety, lack of incentives and market mechanisms, accounting and monitoring, integration into gas networks, economic feasibility, monetization, and mine water management.