Washington (June 30, 2021) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement today after President Joseph R. Biden signed into law a resolution that disapproves the Methane Rescission Rule, through use of the Congressional Review Act. The disapproval resolution nullifies the Trump administration’s 2020 Methane Rescission Rule and reinstates Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for methane emissions from the oil and gas industry and regulation of air pollution from transmission and storage facilities.

 

“Over the course of four years, the Trump administration sent us backwards, choosing pollution over people. But today I am proud that we’ve traded the Climate Denier-in-Chief for science, reason, and public health,” said Senator Markey. “As President Biden signed our resolution to reject Trump’s rollback, we took the first steps to curb immediate global warming, save lives, prevent costly trips to emergency rooms, and show the world that the United States is ready to once again lead in combatting the climate crisis. We have the duty to immediately cut down on methane pollution. We have the ability and the technology to achieve those reductions. Now we must summon the political will to attack our climate crisis as record heat envelops parts of our country.”

 

Despite data showing large increases in methane emissions from oil and gas production in recent years, the EPA under the Trump administration completed a rollback of critical methane emissions regulations created during the Obama administration. The rollback weakened and, in some cases, eliminated altogether requirements that oil and natural gas companies limit methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from their operations. 

 

Under the CRA, which allows Congress to review and disapprove certain federal regulations, the resolution of disapproval of the 2020 Methane Rescission Rule under the Trump administration will largely reinstate the 2012 and 2016 Oil and Natural Gas New Source Performance Standards (NSPS). Specifically, the resolution will reinstate the methane requirements for the industry’s production and processing segments and the methane and VOCs requirements for the transmission and storage segments.