States Sue Over EPA Methane Rule

Earlier this summer, on June 3rd, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the agency’s final version of a new rule to reduce the emission of methane and other compounds. The rule is aimed primarily at the nation’s oil and natural gas industry, focusing on existing sources of methane emissions such as oil wells.

Alabama AG Luther Strange

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy noted that her agency’s goal was to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. Comments on the new methane rule are being accepted until August 2nd.

See EPA’s Final Rule Here

Many, however, believe that EPA has exceeded its authority in issuing the rule. The American Petroleum Institute and the Independent Petroleum Association of America have said that the EPA’s methane rule is unnecessary and will add costs during a time when methane emissions are declining anyway. The EPA estimates the cost of its methane rule to be $530 million per year by 2025; other studies project the annual price tag could be as high as $800 million.

The rule has even drawn a legal response from several states. In late July, for example, the State of North Dakota filed suit against EPA over the methane rule in the District of Columbia’s U.S. District Court of Appeals. The suit was filed on July 15th by Denver attorney Paul Seby, a special assistant attorney general for the North Dakota Office of the Attorney General. Named in the suit are U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

North Dakota is asking the Court of Appeals to determine whether the EPA’s methane rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority. The petition contends that the rule “goes beyond the bounds established by the United State Constitution and is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law.”

Since the suit was filed, thirteen other states have joined North Dakota’s effort. One of those states is Alabama, where Attorney General Luther Strange has called the methane rule a “job-killing attack on the nation’s oil and natural gas industry.” States joining North Dakota and Alabama are West Virginia, Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin, along with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

See AG Strange’s Official Statement

“Americans are already taxed and regulated to death by Washington and this new EPA rule is another bureaucratic attempt to restrict access to more affordable energy,” said Attorney General Strange. “We should be working to build up our country’s domestic energy production for the benefit of consumers and our struggling economy, not creating more obstacles to oil and gas.”