Court Blocks Biden-Harris Methane Emissions Rule In Five States
The Biden-Harris administration has made it part of its climate agenda to reduce certain emissions, like methane, the primary component of natural gas.
A federal judge temporarily halted the enforcement of a Biden-Harris administration rule in five states on Thursday designed to reduce methane emissions and minimize natural gas waste on federal lands.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from enforcing a new rule that was implemented in April in North Dakota, Montana, Texas, Wyoming and Utah. These states argued that the federal rule, which mandates oil and gas companies to implement waste reduction plans and leak detection programs on public lands, constitutes an overreach of federal authority, infringing upon state rights.
The contested rule requires operators to curtail the venting, flaring and leaking of natural gas during oil extraction processes. The Biden-Harris administration has made it part of its climate agenda to reduce certain emissions, like methane, the primary component of natural gas.
Traynor stated in his decision that the states are likely to prevail because “on the merits of their claim, the 2024 Rule is arbitrary and capricious” and pointed out that various aspects of the rule are “inadequately explained” and “contradictory,” the North Dakota Monitor reported. This regulation impacts federal and tribal territories, and the Fort Berthold Reservation hosts the majority of oil and gas extraction on tribal lands in North Dakota.
BLM, under the Department of the Interior, argued that venting and flaring natural gas squanders public and Native American resources, cutting significant royalty revenues for taxpayers, tribes, and states, while exacerbating climate change, the North Dakota Monitor stated. However, Judge Traynor contends that the BLM lacks the authority for air quality control, a power reserved for the Environmental Protection Agency and the states by the Clean Air Act.
North Dakota challenged the rule, claiming it infringed on state sovereignty and would diminish state revenue from oil and gas production, while the BLM estimated the rule could generate over $50 million in tax revenue, the North Dakota Monitor reported. Traynor further questioned the economic benefit of the rule and said that it “offers no rationale why flaring is more economically productive than venting.”
The North Dakota Monitor also reports Fort Berthold POWER, which stands for Protectors of Water and Earth Rights, is among the conservation groups that supported the BLM rule. State Rep. Lisa Finley-Deville, D-Mandaree, a co-founder of the group, said the rule reduces the waste of natural resources.
“My ancestors worked hard not to waste any resources,” Finley-Deville, a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, said in a previous statement to the North Dakota Monitor. “To my people, the earth is sacred and to waste any of the earth’s natural resources is to disrespect the earth.”
When the rule was finalized, Interior Secretary Deb Haalad said it modernized 40-year-old regulations and would encourage using modern technology to protect the environment and ensure a fair return to American taxpayers.
“We are taking long-overdue steps that will increase accountability for oil and gas operators and benefit energy communities now and for generations to come,” Haaland said at the time.
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