The same day the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday finalized rules creating more restrictions on methane emissions, the state of Texas filed suit against the agency.
The Texas Railroad Commission followed through on its approval in January to file suit which was filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Commission issued a statement in February saying the EPA’s new rule was “extremely unreasonable, and time-consuming, given that there have been vast improvements with reduced methane emissions in the state.”
“The new rules will create an undue burden on regulators as well as the oil and gas industry, by forcing further emission reductions in remote, unmanned locations,” the commission said, according to a report by The Hill.
Of course, environmental groups weren’t happy about it. Maggie Coulter, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute said her organization is ready to defend the EPA rule in court.
“For way too long oil and gas companies have gotten away with venting and ignoring leaks of this extraordinarily powerful greenhouse gas, and that has to stop. Curbing methane pollution is important, but it has to be part of a larger plan to fight the climate emergency with a swift, just transition to renewables.”
The new EPA methane emissions rule creates tighter restrictions on flaring and plugging leaks. The agency claims it could cut neary 58 million tons of methane emissions by 2038.