Court Overturns Trump’s Bid To Get Rid Of Obama-Era Energy Rules

The U.S. District Court of Northern California blocked the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) postponement of an Obama-era rule regulating royalties paid by energy companies on federal and tribal lands Wednesday. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke began repealing the Consolidated Federal Oil and Gas and Federal and Indian Coal Valuation Reform Rule in order to replace it with “more workable” regulations. The court ruled that the DOI violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it postponed the rule after it was in effect and did not seek public comment on its full repeal, according to court documents...more