Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has yet to comment publicly, but he experienced a legal setback at the U.S. Supreme Court where he led a challenge of the EPAs stringent rules of methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
The Court turned down the request he and other attorneys general filed in an attempt to block the rule from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA set up the more stringent rules in a bid to target emissions of methane from crude-oil and natural gas facilities.
It doesn’t mean an end to Oklahoma’s challenge—just that the rules will remain in effect while the legal battle moves forward, according to ScotusBlog.
The new methane rule from the EPA was published in March and immediately, Drummond and more than 20 other attorneys general were joined by industry groups in an initial challenge in the D.C. Circuit Court. They challenged the rule but also asked that the rule be put on hold while they litigate the case. A stay was denied in July by the D.C. Circuit and that’s when Oklahoma and the others went to the Supreme Court in August.
The Supreme Court justices issued unsigned orders on Friday, denying the request. They also offered no explanation and there were no listed dissents among the justices.
As ScotusBlog reported, the justices also issued a denial on another challenge of an EPA rule that is part of the Hazardous Air Pollutants program established by the Clean Air Act. Again, 23 Republican led states also challenged its intent of reducing air pollution in “downwind” states.