Grijalva on GOP Vote to Wipe Out Methane Emissions Rule: “This Majority Exists to Give Away Public Resources to Private Interests”
Washington, D.C. – After the House Republican majority’s just-concluded vote to repeal the Interior Department’s rule prohibiting methane waste on public lands – a vote that caps a week spent slashing environmental and corporate disclosure rules – Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva said the Republican majority has proven that giving away public goods to private entities is all the majority seems to know how to do.
Each vote is pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to cancel federal rules that fall within a specified window of time following publication. The law is being abused by the current Republican majority to wipe out a broad array of Obama-era health, environmental and financial standards. Federal agencies cannot republish a rule that is “substantially the same” once it is canceled by the CRA, raising the prospect of much of our nation’s economy being regulated by now decades-old standards in perpetuity after their Obama-era updates are wiped out.
“When it comes to giving public resources to private interests and gutting our nation’s health, environmental and financial standards, the Republicans can’t seem to act fast enough,” Grijalva said. “Whose interests does this serve? Whoever they’re doing this for, it isn’t the American public.”
The benefits of the methane rule, formally known as the Methane and Waste Prevention Rule, are well documented. If implemented, the methane waste rule will save up to 41 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year, enough to supply up to 740,000 households; bring in up to $14 million in additional royalties to states and the federal treasury annually; and reduce methane pollution by 175,000 to 180,000 tons each year, equivalent to the emissions of nearly 1 million vehicles. The BLM’s formal estimate of the methane waste rule’s benefits is available at https://on.doi.gov/2jnSkKv.
Today’s House vote comes after Wednesday’s House votes to repeal the Stream Protection Rule, which regulates the dumping of coal mining waste known to harm public health in Appalachian communities, and to repeal the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule mandating that oil, gas and mining companies publish payments of more than $100,000 per project to foreign governments.
The Senate has already voted to repeal the Stream Protection Rule, and the measure is likely to be one of the first signed by President Trump since taking office.
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