Dems pressure agency to finish pipeline methane rule

By Nico Portuondo | 07/17/2024 04:05 PM EDT

Lawmakers say the standards are “already far behind schedule.”

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is helping lead a push for the nation's pipeline safety regulator to finish methane leak standards. Francis Chung/POLITICO

Dozens of Senate and House Democrats are urging the Biden administration to finalize a critical pipeline methane rule as soon as possible — perhaps before former President Donald Trump potentially returns to the White House.

Led by Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Rep. Scott Peters of California, the letter signed by 40 Democrats asks the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to finalize a draft rule that could aggressively go after methane leaks from the nation’s natural gas pipelines.

The lawmakers argue the rule is “already far behind schedule” given Congress gave PHMSA until the end of 2021 to finish it. The issue was part of a PHMSA reauthorization included in massive spending legislation passed by Congress at the end of 2020.

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“The rule is urgently needed to improve community safety and reduce methane emissions from millions of miles of pipelines across the United States, and we are concerned to see further delays in the projected finalization schedule,” the Democrats wrote.

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