Methane rule rollback challenged in court

The Interior Department is facing mounting legal challenges over its recent rollback of a Bureau of Land Management rule that was intended to limit methane emissions from oil and gas development on federal land. Seventeen conservation and tribal citizen groups filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the action, arguing it violates existing federal policies. The states of New Mexico and California already have sued over the rollback. The Interior Department last month finalized a rule largely undoing 2016 regulations targeting the methane emissions. It eliminated requirements covering areas such as leak detection and repair, waste minimization plans, and well completion operations. “We are going to court on behalf of American taxpayers, public health, and the planet,” said Robin Cooley, an Earthjustice attorney involved in the new suit. “The Trump administration is not above the law — Interior Secretary (Ryan) Zinke cannot yank away a common-sense rule that was the product of years of careful deliberation simply to appease his friends in the oil and gas industry.” Cooley represents Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society and Western Organization of Resource Councils in the lawsuit...MORE