Appeals court finds delaying rule exceeds EPA authority

Decision could slow drilling, modifications to wells in N.M., industry spokesman says

Oil and gas companies must comply with an Obama-era methane rule, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to delay compliance deadlines until at least September — and for up to two years, a federal court has ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said late Monday night that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot unilaterally prevent the rule from taking effect, affirming an earlier ruling by a panel of judges on the court that such a delay exceeds the authority granted to the agency under the Clean Air Act.

The decision, issued by the full appeals court, is the latest roadblock faced by the new presidential administration as it attempts to unwind policies, from health care and water pollution to climate change prevention, promulgated under President Barack Obama’s leadership.

The methane regulation, which should have come into effect in June, requires oil and gas operators to limit the amount of the gas leaked, vented or flared from all new and modified wells, and to increase monitoring and reporting of emissions.

The EPA and the Bureau of Land Management each finalized methane regulations in 2016 that were seen as a core part of the Obama administration’s climate policies. But the rules have faced intense efforts for repeal and dismantlement by

members of Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration. Oil and gas groups and several states also have petitioned to have the rules reviewed and overturned.

In May, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said he agreed with the concerns and vowed to issue a 90-day stay of his agency’s regulations, a period of time when companies would not have to come into compliance with the rule, even though it was already on the books.

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in opposition to the delay, and a federal court agreed that the agency did not have the authority to delay the measure. The EPA and industry groups appealed, seeking at least a 50-day stay, but were granted just two weeks, which ended Friday. The appeals court judges said any additional time would “be ‘arbitrary, capricious, [and] … in excess of [EPA’s] statutory … authority.’ ”

Robert McEntyre, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said the court’s ruling could slow drilling of new wells or modifications made to existing wells in New Mexico, “and all of this comes as New Mexico’s rig count has been steadily climbing.”

There were 61 rigs as of late July, he said, compared to just 13 in March of last year, as well as billions of dollars invested in the state this year.

But this has occurred amid regulatory uncertainty.

Shell and Exxon Mobil both said they will comply with Obama’s methane regulations despite the legal challenges to the rule, according to an interview published by Rice University’s Baker Institute.

“There is still uncertainty within the industry as to the rule’s implementation and how the current administration plans to move forward,” McEntyre said in an email. “We could probably expect the EPA to take steps to re-write the rule completely to reflect a more balanced approach to the issue, and we would be supportive of that if that’s how they intend to proceed.”

McEntyre said Obama’s methane rule is a “solution in search of a problem.”

Simultaneously, the EPA has opened a federal docket for public comment, which closes Aug. 9, seeking to delay compliance with the rule for a two-year period while it reconsiders and revises the regulation.

That proposal already has accrued more than 9,900 commenters, a number of whom have implored the agency to bring the rule into effect now.

Environmentalists and Democrats maintain the methane rules are crucial to prevent further global warming. Methane, a component of natural gas, is the second most troublesome greenhouse gas. It is more than 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it is released and at least 25 times more potent over a century.

“From the travel ban to these environmental issues to so many issues, the courts are asserting — as they should, as the third branch of an independent government — what is right and proper,” said Jon Goldstein with the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Trump administration is pushing beyond “what is legal in terms of letting companies off the hook for environmental problems,” Goldstein said. “And the courts are pushing back.”

This week already has seen a flurry of legal activity related to the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back environmental protections.

A public hearing was held Monday before the EPA, with environmental advocates asking the agency to implement a 2015 rule protecting water from pollution from coal-fired power plants, which Pruitt has sought to delay.

And on Tuesday, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas joined attorneys general from 14 other states and the District of Columbia in filing a lawsuit against the EPA for stalling ground-level ozone regulations, which Pruitt wants to delay for a year.

Balderas said such a delay would be a detriment to human health, especially in Doña Ana County, which he said is affected by smog from El Paso and Mexico.

Balderas and others also have filed suit against the U.S. Interior Department’s attempts to stall and repeal the BLM’s methane rule for existing and new wells operated on federal and tribal land.