24 States Sue Over EPA Methane Rule
IPANM Editor’s Note: Not only is New Mexico not joining this suit to defend the state Oil & Gas industry, in the subsequent article below, New Mexico is blatantly supporting this rule which creates conflicts with New Mexico’s Methane Rule. The disparity will lead to chaos whereby wells that criss-cross the checkerboard nature of BOTH state and federal lands with two different rules.
E&E News (March 18, 2024) – Twenty-four Republican attorneys general are challenging the Biden administration’s new rule to limit methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, arguing that EPA overstepped its authority.
Led by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the states filed their lawsuit last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking to block the regulation, which serves as a key part of the White House plan to tackle climate change.
The rule is a “blatant attack on America’s oil and gas industry,” Drummond said. He added that if the regulation goes into effect, it would “cost Oklahoma countless jobs, devastate the oil and gas industry, and force us to pay significantly higher energy prices.”
The Petition Filed Against EPA’s Methane Rule
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Twenty Democratic attorneys general file motion in support of Biden methane rule
The Hill (March 19, 2024) – Twenty Democratic state attorneys general on Monday filed a motion in defense of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) oil and gas methane rule, following a lawsuit against the rule by Republican AGs.
Twenty-four GOP states, led by Oklahoma’s Gentner Drummond, sued over the rule last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a separate challenge March 8 in response to a request from the state Railroad Commission.
In the counter-motion, the 20 Democratic AGs, led by California’s Rob Bonta, expressed support for the final EPA rule, the first to regulate emissions from existing fossil fuel facilities in addition to new and modified facilities. Bonta was joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
“Once again, we are seeing baseless attacks on efforts to combat climate change and tackle methane emissions,” Bonta said in a statement. “For years, this super pollutant has been overlooked while the oil and gas industry carelessly – and at times, knowingly – allowed enormous quantities of greenhouse gas to leak into our environment. The Biden Administration’s rule is a critical step forward, and I, alongside attorneys general across this country, won’t stand idly by as necessary solutions to address the dire reality of the climate crisis fueled by methane emissions are being blatantly attacked.”
States Take Sides In EPA Methane Rule; NM Against Industry Again
