Thirteen AGs Submitted Comments Opposing EPA’s Proposed Rollback of New Source Performance Standards for Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Development

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra led a coalition of 13 attorneys general in submitting comments strongly objecting to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule rolling back Obama-era New Source Performance Standards regulating methane, volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants for new, reconstructed, and modified sources in the oil and gas industry. In their comments, the AGs noted that the EPA’s proposed rule violates several tenets of the Clean Air Act, including the law’s requirement that new standards must represent the best system of emissions reduction. The attorneys general also pointed to serious flaws in the regulatory process used by the EPA, noting that the agency failed to address the robust administrative record developed by the Obama administration in its proposed replacement rule.