US District Court for Wyoming overturns 2016 bill related to methane, air quality regulation
The U.S. District Court for Wyoming vacated the 2016 waste prevention rule, a methane-related regulation that granted air quality authority to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
When the rule was originally finalized in November 2016, the Western Energy Alliance (WPA) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) challenged it in the Wyoming court. The challenge was joined by the states of Montana, North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
The Trump administration finalized a new rule in 2018 that undid aspects of the original Obama-era rule. The revised rule removed the provisions of the 2016 rule that focused on BLM’s authority to regulate waste under the Mineral Leasing Act. Environmental groups and the states of California and New Mexico challenged the Trump rule in the Northern District of California.
In July 2020, the California court overturned the Trump revision rule, ordering the 2016 rule to go into effect on October 13, 2020. The Alliance and IPAA have joined the American Petroleum Institute (API) in appealing that ruling. The Alliance, IPAA, and the four states restarted the case against the 2016 rule in Wyoming, which had been put on hold when the 2018 revision rule was finalized. The ruling this week by Judge Scott Skavdahl ends the seesawing litigation and overturns the 2016 rule.
“We are overjoyed that an overreaching regulation has been overturned today. Judge Skavdahl agreed with us that BLM does not have the authority to regulate air quality,” Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance, said. “BLM can regulate waste of methane, but not put in place air quality controls and regulate existing sources. The Clean Air Act gives that authority to EPA and the states. Hopefully, we can quit playing boomerang between the two courts and get back to sensible regulation within BLM’s purview. Meanwhile, companies have continued a decades-long trend of reducing methane emissions by nearly 23 percent since 1990, even as natural gas production has increased more than 50 percent.”
IPAA President and CEO Barry Russell said the rule, which aimed to regulate venting and flaring, was an attempt to create a regulatory hurdle for American oil and natural gas producers operating on federal lands.
