The Latest: Interior ordered to reinstate methane rule
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on rules restricting methane emissions (all times EDT):
8:10 p.m.
A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to reinstate an Obama-era regulation aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands.
The order by a judge in San Francisco comes as Interior is moving to delay the rule until 2019, saying it is too burdensome to industry. Interior tried earlier to postpone part of the rule set to take effect next year.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte says Interior failed to give a “reasoned explanation” for the changes and had not offered details why an earlier analysis by the Obama administration was faulty. She has ordered the entire rule reinstated immediately.
The rule, finalized last November, forces energy companies to capture methane that’s burnt off or “flared” at drilling sites on public lands.
https://apnews.com/8858f98d409542b093b1a14549a17eb2?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP
_—
