Twenty-One AGs Sent Letter in Support of Congressional Review Act Resolution to Restore EPA Regulations on Methane Emissions

APRIL 26, 2021

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in sending a letter to Congressional leaders expressing support for a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to invalidate the Trump administration’s rescission of controls on emissions of methane and harmful conventional pollutants from the oil and gas industry. The letter noted that the rescission did away with “common sense, cost-effective approaches” established by the Obama administration that not only protected public health and the environment, but also improved the efficiency of natural gas operations by reducing leakage in all four segments of the industry (production, processing, transmission and storage). The letter also highlighted the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own acknowledgement that the rescission would trigger significant increases in pollutant emissions, including “448,000 more tons of methane, 12,000 more tons of [volatile organic compounds], and 400 more tons of hazardous air pollutants by 2030.” The AGs concluded that “using the CRA to expeditiously nullify the rule is justified,” and doing so “would not stand in the way of EPA using its statutory authority in the future to promulgate more protective standards.”