House votes to reverse Trump’s rollback of Obama’s methane rules

The House voted 229-191 to nullify a rule written by the Trump administration that largely rolled back Obama administration regulations on control of methane from oil and gas production, processing plants, storage, and transportation.

The June 25 vote also meant that regulations for emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) will be applied to storage and transportation, as intended by the Obama administration.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2020 agreed with the industry view that separate methane regulations were redundant, given that VOC controls would also control methane. The Trump EPA also agreed that VOC and methane regulations for storage and transportation were improper because EPA had never studied the matter to make a finding that emissions from those segments of the industry were significant enough to merit the regulations.

The Trump EPA estimated its 2020 changes should provide net savings of $750-850 million over the 10 years starting with 2021. That would average about $80 million a year for the industry.

The Trump EPA’s rule on those subjects was published Sept. 14 in the Federal Register. In April, the Senate, through use of the Congressional Review Act, voted 52-42 to rescind that rule. The House took the resolution and approved it mostly along party lines, though 12 Republicans joined Democrats in agreeing to rescind the rule.

President Biden, who has made much of his hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, can be expected to sign the resolution into law.

The Obama EPA put in place rules in 2012 and 2016 for control of methane emissions, under its authority to set new source performance standards.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, issued a statement June 25 saying the rollback of the Trump EPA rule needs to be followed by legislation requiring tighter controls on oil and gas operations on federal land.

Grijalva’s committee in late April and early May approved several bills by Democrats to require tighter regulation of methane not only by EPA but the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.