WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 5, 2017)—A day after a court rejected one attempt to delay a rule clamping down on methane emissions, the Bureau of Land Management launched a new effort Thursday to derail the common sense regulation, which reduces pollution harmful to people and wildlife, and the waste of public resources.

The National Wildlife Federation released the following comment on the BLM’s proposal to delay key provisions of the methane rule for more than a year so it can be revised or rolled back:

“The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California got it right in finding the Trump administration was wrong when it did an end run around the American public and the law to undo a rule that went through analysis and public comment and had already taken effect,” said Kate Zimmerman, the National Wildlife Federation’s public lands policy director.

“The court has spoken, and so did the Senate in May when it rejected a move to repeal the rule. The methane being vented from oil and gas operations on public and tribal lands is a greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term and represents $23 million a year in royalties that could be going to local schools and highways rather than going up in vapor,” Zimmerman added. “If the BLM seriously weighs the benefits of reducing harmful methane emissions, as the District Court said it is obligated to, there’s no question the methane rule should stay in place.”

The National Wildlife Federation was among the organizations that challenged the Trump administration’s use of the Administrative Procedure Act to stay implementation of the methane rule, resulting in Wednesday’s decision upholding the rule. 

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National Wildlife Federation Oil and Gas Methane Pollution Report —  An Invisible Threat to Wildlife and Economic Opportunity for Communities