Red state challenges to EPA’s methane rule could prolong the oil industry’s exposure to a new fee on excess emissions.
Twenty-three state attorneys general are urging the courts to scrap EPA’s standards for how existing oil and gas facilities curb methane leaks. Litigation could stretch into 2026, delaying the implementation of the rule and giving states more time to plan.
But that delay could also prevent oil and gas companies across the country from taking advantage of an exemption to the new methane fee until the 2030s, leaving heavy-emitting facilities on the hook for hefty fees far longer than Congress or EPA expected.
The Inflation Reduction Act allows facilities that comply with EPA’s methane rule to stop paying the “waste emissions charge,” which goes into effect next year based on this year’s emissions. It charges operators for emitting the planet-warming gas above certain methane-intensity thresholds outlined in the law.
