With Ohio becoming a bigger player in the global fracking surge, environmental activists, oil and gas lobbyists, union representatives, fishing and outdoor enthusiasts, and public health officials across the state were weighing in on the Obama Administration’s final rules for methane releases that were announced Thursday.

Much of the debate echoed what has been said about tighter rules climate-altering emissions from coal-fired power plants: Better environmental stewardship, but at what cost?

But now, Ohio — one of the nation’s largest energy users and one of the most heavily invested in coal power — is facing a similar controversy with its oil and gas industry.

While the oil and gas industry claims it does a good job of controlling releases from its drilling sites nationwide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency believes it can do more. Its new rules to tighten down on leaks from oil and gas wells that are hydraulically fracture — i.e. frack — shale calls for a 45 percent reduction in methane releases by 2025, compared with 2012 levels.

The American Petroleum Institute, the nation’s largest oil and gas lobby, and the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, which represents Ohio drillers, said the rule threatens to slow the fracking surge.

Shawn Bennett, Ohio Oil and Gas Association executive vice president, described the new rules as “nothing more than a continued assault” on an industry that creates jobs and provides cheap energy.

Methane is far less abundant than carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, but it is by far the most potent.

During a conference call with reporters that included representatives from many sectors of the economy, Melanie Houston, Ohio Environmental Council oil and gas policy director, said environmentalists see the concept of fixing methane leaks at drilling sites as “low-hanging fruit.”

Peggy Berry, a certified occupational health nurse specialist, said public health officials welcome the rule because methane leaks often include volatile organic compounds that can create smog and trigger asthma.

The rule “shouldn’t cripple the industry but make it more profitable for it because it won’t lose [as much] methane,” Ms. Berry said.

Methane is a key component of natural gas. It tends to leak during oil and gas production.

Lauren Miller, the OEC’s methane campaign consultant, said Ohio oil and gas operations reported releasing 22,000 metric tons of methane worth more than $4 million in 2014, enough for a year’s worth of heating and cooking for 12,500 homes.

Joe Holcomb, United Steelworkers District 1 staff representative, said the rules could lead to new opportunities for workers.

“Union members care very much about the world we live in,” Mr. Holcomb said. “Climate change impacts our environment and economy, and we have to act now.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.

First Published May 13, 2016, 4:00 a.m.