EPA delays methane restrictions for oil and gas

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The Big Story

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is delaying the implementation of restrictions on planet-warming methane emissions from oil and gas drilling as it considers unwinding the requirements entirely.

The Biden administration rule in question was expected to cut down on methane emissions and also to reduce releases of toxic air pollutants.

This week, the Trump administration released an interim final rule that pushes back the policy’s compliance deadlines.

It said it was doing so “to address legitimate concerns … that certain regulatory provisions are not currently workable or contain problematic regulatory language that frustrates compliance.”

Under the interim final rule, companies will have 18 months before they need to install certain pollution controls.

Critics called it a corporate giveaway.

“Delaying implementation will simply give a handout to the worst actors who would be able to continue their polluting ways with zero consequences or accountability to neighboring communities,” said Mahyar Sorour, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy, in a written statement.

The Trump administration has also put the regulation in question on a hit list of Biden-era rules that it may reverse.

Read more at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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