Two dozen states on Friday asked a federal appeals court to stay implementation of EPA’s recently issued methane emission regulations for oil and gas operations.
The regulations impose “onerous new requirements” on the industry, as well as millions of dollars of costs on states that “are starting to tally up right now,” Oklahoma, West Virginia and the other challengers wrote in a motion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
But the regulations “unlawfully” deprive states of congressionally authorized discretion and hold them to a two-year deadline that will be impossible to meet, the motion continues.
Twenty-four Republican attorneys general filed the suit last month, days after EPA published the rule requiring existing operations to do more to crack down on leaks and other releases of the climate-warming pollutant. The rule also sets stricter standards for new oil and gas infrastructure.
