20 states go to court to fight EPA’s methane regulations rollback

The Trump administration’s decision to rescind some regulations governing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry will be fought in court by a coalition of 20 states in a lawsuit filed Sept. 14.

A second lawsuit is planned to contest the second of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules completed in August under the Clean Air Act.

The second rule, on the technical details of new source performance standards for air emissions from oil and gas exploration and production operations, will be challenged following its publication in the Federal Register, according to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. The technical rule was published Sept. 15, the day after his announcement.

EPA completed the rules Aug. 13. The policy rule rejected the need for the separate methane regulations issued under President Obama. EPA’s regulations of volatile organic compounds use the same technologies and techniques that control methane, making separate methane emissions a redundant waste of money, the agency said (OGJ Online, Aug. 13, 2020).

The companion rule addressed such subjects as emission leak detection and monitoring requirements.

In California v. Andrew Wheeler, a case filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the coalition of states challenged the policy rule rescinding methane regulations.

The EPA, in violation of the Clean Air Act, arbitrarily eliminated pollution controls from the transmission and storage segments of the oil and gas industry and abandoned the regulation of methane without justification, Becerra said in announcing the lawsuit.

EPA’s policy rule said it was rescinding the Obama administration’s emission standards from transmission and storage because the Obama administration had issued those standards without first making a determination of need as required under the Clean Air Act.

Joining California in the lawsuit were Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.