The Senate’s Republicans majority on Wednesday blocked a Democratic challenge to the Trump administration’s move to delay EPA methane rules.
The Congressional Review Act resolution, S.J. Res. 76, would have nixed a recent EPA rule that extends the deadline by which states must comply with Biden-era methane emissions limits for oil and gas facilities.
The resolution — brought by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) — failed a procedural vote 46-51. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the sole Republican to vote for the measure.
Schiff said the vote was intended to put members of Congress on the record about where they stand on reducing methane emissions. The EPA rule he targeted is viewed by some as the first step toward undoing standards established in 2024.
“The decision by the EPA to put forward this polluter-friendly rule is perfectly emblematic of the administration’s approach to our environment,” Schiff said ahead of the vote Wednesday.
“This isn’t good policymaking. This is extreme ideological obsession with dire consequences for the health and welfare of the American people,” he added.
He and Whitehouse both used floor time ahead of the vote to explain how federal money has helped companies fix methane leaks and comply with new limits — which Schiff said means the Trump EPA delay “makes no sense.”
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also took to the Senate floor to speak in favor of the resolution, relating the Trump administration’s posture toward methane to a general rise in electricity bills.
“As families are trying to save, Donald Trump is making it easier for gas companies to waste,” Schumer said.
Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), meanwhile, depicted the Trump EPA rule as a necessary protection from an “onslaught of regulations” against oil and gas companies that came during the Biden administration.
EPA itself has said this rule is merely intended to give states more time to draft plans for compliance with methane standards.
“Natural gas is an affordable, reliable and clean source of energy, vital to reducing our emissions. We should be expanding production of this resource, not restricting it. Unfortunately, restriction is the purpose of this CRA,” Capito said.
The Congressional Review Act allows lawmakers to kill newly issued rules by simple majority. But with Republican control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, any CRA brought by Democrats is largely symbolic.
Republicans and the White House have repeatedly used the CRA this year to attack Biden-era environmental policies.
This week, the House passed three CRA resolutions to overturn Biden administration mining and drilling restrictions on swaths of public lands.
On Wednesday, just hours before the methane vote, the Senate advanced a companion CRA resolution to nullify a Biden land plan that restricted coal mining in Wyoming.
The measure, S.J. Res 89, from Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), could receive a final Senate vote as soon as Thursday.
This story also appears in Climatewire.
