Attorneys General in 24 states have asked the Supreme Court to block the federal government’s methane standards for the oil and gas sector, arguing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped its authority in issuing the final rule.
The EPA has said the new standards are part of efforts to sharply reduce emissions of methane and “other harmful air pollution from oil and natural gas operations.”
Led by the state of Oklahoma, attorneys general from states including Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and Virginia filed an emergency appeal to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing the rule that went into effect this year.
In their Aug. 27 filing, the states argued that while the federal government has the authority to set emissions limits, the rule outlines specific technologies, processes, and methods that the agency believes states must employ to achieve certain emission-reduction targets, among other requirements. The “EPA did not limit itself to its statutory role for existing sources and then leave it to the States to adopt appropriate standards of performance,” they said.
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