Politico (Nov. 26, 2025) – EPA finalized a rule Wednesday that pushes back implementation of the Biden administration’s landmark crackdown on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.

The regulation, Reg. 2060-AW61, gives oil and gas producers more time to comply with requirements to add methane emissions monitoring and control devices to their operations.

“The previous administration used oil and gas standards as a weapon to shut down development and manufacturing in the United States,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “By finalizing compliance extensions, EPA is ensuring unrealistic regulations do not prevent America from unleashing energy dominance.”

The agency estimates that delaying various aspects of the Biden administration’s rule will save $750 million over 11 years.

The delay, which EPA issued as an interim final rule in July, gives states an extra 10 months, until January 2027, to submit plans on how they would require oil and gas producers to cut down on methane emissions. Those plans had originally been due on March 9, 2026.

It also pushes back a program that allowed approved third parties, such as environmental groups, to seek certification to provide the EPA with data on potential large leaks and releases known as “super emitters,” until January 2027.

EPA also delayed several additional deadlines not addressed by the interim final rule in July that it said had drawn public comments. The agency is giving operators an additional 180 days to meet net heating value continuous monitoring requirements and an additional 360 days to submit annual reports that were originally due by August 2025.

The delay comes as the Trump EPA works to unwind the bedrock “endangerment finding” that underpins a broad range of climate regulations, including the methane rule.

The methane rule finalized in 2023, Reg. 2060-AV16, was a centerpiece of the Biden administration’s climate agenda, alongside a fee on methane emissions that was repealed by Congress earlier this year.

Grace Smith, senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement the delay “means millions of Americans will be exposed to dangerous pollution for another year and a half, for no good reason.”

“Delaying the methane standards threatens people’s health and undermines progress by industry leaders,” Smith said. “What’s more, the Trump administration rushed to push through this harmful rule without meaningful transparency or a chance for the public to weigh in.”

EPA issued the delay as an interim final rule in July, allowing it to take effect before a public comment period was held.

The Bureau of Land Management last week pushed back enforcement deadlines for its separate methane waste rule as it works to rewrite that regulation.