September 18, 2024 |
Photo – A refinery burns off methane gas – Courtesy Science News
Wyoming leaders are applauding a judge in North Dakota who blocked an attempt by the Bureau of Land Management to establish new rules on methane production.
“This is an important win for Wyoming workers and their families,” Senator John Barrasso said. Wyoming’s senior senator added, “It’s long past time for the Biden Harris Administration to encourage energy production instead of trying to strangle it.”
The new set of rules, announced earlier this year by the BLM, aimed to stop venting and flaring of methane from oil wells—a move that would have added more than $19 million a year in additional costs for oil production.
The new rule, announced in March, was called the Waste Prevention Subject to Royalties and Resource Conservation Rule, is actually a revision of a similar 2016 methane rule that was struck down by a Wyoming court eight years ago.
In his ruling late last week, North Dakota District Court Judge Daniel Traynor cited the Wyoming case in issuing an injunction on the government’s latest move, saying that the plaintiffs, which include the state of Wyoming, are likely to succeed in having the new rule tossed as well.
Judge Traynor called the BLM’s latest legal maneuver “arbitrary and capricious” with little chance of surviving the legal process.
Flaring is the practice of controlled burning of gasses that are deemed uneconomical to collect and sell. The process is used to maintain pressure and flow rates.
Venting is the direct release of methane gas to the atmosphere, and occurs at different points in the production process.
In announcing the new rule earlier this year, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the final rule “updates 40-year-old regulations “and furthers the Biden-Harris Administration’s green energy goals.
In his statement, Senator Barrasso noted that “the BLM’s rule is unsupported by the claimed environmental benefits.” conflicts with other laws, and adds nothing more than another rule on top of existing federal regulations.”
The rule, now sitting on judicial ice, would have resulted in more than $50-million dollars in new taxes on petroleum companies and affected about 70 percent of Wyoming’s existing mineral acreage.
Senator Barrasso said laws governing methane releases are already established and a win in the courts over the case against the BLM rule is vital to the future of the oil and gas industry.
