Trump Administration Just Lost A Court Battle Over An Obama-era Methane Rule
The Trump administration has lost an important court battle over their attempt to delay an Obama-era rule that limits methane pollution from oil and gas drilling.
A federal court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration can not delay an EPA rule put in place under the Obama Administration.
The court loss is an early defeat for Donald Trump’s aggressive agenda of environmental deregulation.
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the EPA didn’t meet the requirements for a 90-day stay of the Obama administration’s methane rule.
Under the court decision, the EPA must immediately start enforcing the standards.
“The administrative record thus makes clear that industry groups had ample opportunity to comment on all four issues on which EPA granted reconsideration, and indeed, that in several instances the agency incorporated those comments directly into the final rule,” two of the judges on the three-judge panel wrote.
“Because it was thus not ‘impracticable’ for industry groups to have raised such objections during the notice and comment period [the Clean Air Act] did not require reconsideration and did not authorize the stay.”
The lawsuit was brought by environmental groups.
[image via screenshot]
