Trump Admin Restarts Repeal of Methane Rule that Fights Climate Change

In August 2017, Smart Dissent had this post discussing Scott Pruitt and the EPA's attempt to suspend a rule that restricts methane emissions to fight climate change. 

At that time, a court blocked the suspension of the rule, a legal setback for Pruitt, Zinke, and Trump, who are trying to roll back dozens of Obama-era environmental regulations.

Now Trump's swamp is doing an end around to completely repeal rule.

The Trump administration on Monday moved to repeal....climate-change regulations.... a rule restricting the release of planet-warming methane into the atmosphere.  The rule, which applied to companies drilling for energy on federal land, has been the subject of.... one surprise vote last year in which Senate Republicans temporarily saved it from being torpedoed.

The existing rule is simple and common sense until you consider that Trump and Republicans care first and foremost about corporate profits.

Methane, which is about 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, accounts for 9 percent of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions; about a third of that is estimated to come from oil and gas operations. Under the rule, oil and gas companies would have been required to capture leaked methane, update their equipment and write new plans for minimizing waste when drilling on government property.

The methane waste rule was aimed at accidental gas leaks and the process of venting and burning off leaked gas, known as flaring, from oil and gas wells on public lands. It was created as part of a broad strategy to tackle climate change as well as wasteful releases of gas. The Bureau of Land Management estimated in 2016 that the rule would prevent as much as 180,000 tons of methane emissions annually, about the equivalent of taking 950,000 cars off the road.

Six months later, they have a new plan to simply repeal this vital regulation.  It's more evidence that every day they are working steathly on behalf of their corporate overlords.

The oil and gas industry.... made repeal of the regulation a top priority.

Environmental activists denounced the plan and noted that the repeal would return the Bureau of Land Management to a set of policies dealing with methane waste that are almost 40 years old. “Gutting the rule would allow unchecked waste of natural gas, unnecessary pollution and the loss of revenue to communities and tribes to address critical needs such as schools and roads,” said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The agency is expected to publish the proposal in the Federal Register, which will kick off a 60-day public comment period. A final repeal of the rule would come after that.

Sources: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/climate/trump-methane-rule-repeal.html

http://smartdissent.com/article/court-blocks-epas-methane-rule-suspension