Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading 22 other attorneys general in the lawsuit against Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a new rule that would penalize the oil and natural gas sector for methane emissions that exceed a certain level.
GOP states argue that the new rule, which was established in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is “arbitrary, capricious, [and] an abuse of discretion.” The complaint against the EPA is scant on details, other than a claim that the new rule is “unlawful” because “the final rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority.”
While it is Supreme Court articulated very narrow powers on how Congress could delegate its legislative power, Steve Milloy, a former EPA transition adviser in the Trump administration and a senior fellow at the Energy and Environmental Law Institute, said he was unclear about how the EPA rule was circumventing Congress.
Flames rise from a burning pit near a well in the Bakken oil field. One of the primary components of natural gas is methane, which is odorless when it comes directly from a gas well.
“The IRA clearly says that the EPA should collect a tax and prescribes a tax rate,” Milloy told Fox News Digital, pointing to the IRA’s “Waste Emissions Fee” section that sets the threshold for methane emissions at 25,000 metric tons. “I’ll be interested to see how the states back up their claims.”
Nonetheless, Milloy is against the new tax on the oil and gas sector, noting that methane is an “unimportant greenhouse gas”.
“The tax is pointless and will achieve nothing but increase the price of oil and natural gas,” he said.
Milloy suggested that the lawsuit’s move in the final days of the Biden administration was the beginning of the plaintiffs’ settlement process with the Trump administration. According to him, this is a tactic used by both sides in the green energy debate. He added that in the past the Trump administration has tried to get rid of “sue and settle” tactics.
“Congress the law needs to be changed,” Milloy said. “Because, let’s say they sue and settle, well, the next administration can come back and undo it.”
President-elect Trump, left, and President Biden.
Meanwhile, another pending lawsuit by the Michigan Oil and Gas Association (MOGA) and the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AMFree) also claimed the new rule circumvents Congress, but provided details explaining why.
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“In Subsection W, facilities in natural gas and oil supply chains must report greenhouse gas emissions if they emit 25,000 metric tons or more of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions each year,” another lawsuit explains. “For gases other than carbon dioxide, ‘equivalent’ emissions are determined by multiplying emissions by the gas’s ‘global warming potential’ (‘GWP ‘).”
Michael Buschbacher, a partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, who is representing MOGA and AmFree in their lawsuit, agreed with Milloy that legislation would be needed to overturn the new methane rule, but said the purpose of their legal filings “is to get the hardest mandates off the books, so the US energy industry can begin its march back to dominance under the new administration.”
A herd of cows on pasture is seen near Allerup, Denmark, on August 5, 2021. A project in Denmark aims to halve methane emissions from dairy cows using a triple action feed additive developed to limit intestinal methane production. (Michal Fludra/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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“Biden-era environmental regulations are not going to magically disappear at 12:01 on Monday. It will take time and legislation to sort out the mess he left behind,” Buschbacher said.
The EPA declined to comment on the matter, citing pending litigation.
