The Supreme Court should reject requests to block EPA’s new limits on methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas infrastructure, the Biden administration told the justices last week.
Republican-led states and industry groups in August filed applications to the high court’s emergency or “shadow” docket asking the justices to prevent the rule from going into effect while legal challenges play out in a lower court.
“Neither challenge is substantial, and neither would warrant this Court’s review,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the Supreme Court in a brief docketed Friday.
The EPA rule relies on equipment upgrades and leak detection technology to control industry releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as well as volatile organic compounds, an ozone precursor. The standards are a key part of the Biden administration’s climate agenda, as the oil and gas sector is the nation’s largest industrial source of methane.
