Immediately after EPA issued its final methane rule for the oil and gas sector in May 2024, industry trade groups and their political allies filed lawsuits challenging the rule and moved to halt its implementation while litigation ensued. Thanks to tenacious legal advocacy by Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program and allies, on July 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the motions to stay the rule, allowing EPA to enforce the rule while litigation proceeds.
The methane rule, which is one of the centerpieces of the Biden administration’s climate agenda, strengthens Obama-era air pollution standards for new oil and gas sources and includes the first-ever protections for existing sources. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is about 80 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide in the 20 years after it is emitted. The rule is anticipated to reduce approximately 58 million tons of methane from the oil and gas sector through 2038, which amounts to nearly 80 percent of all emissions from regulated sources. Furthermore, as a co-benefit, EPA’s rule is projected to cut nearly 16 million tons of smog- and soot-forming volatile organic compound emissions, as well as 590,000 tons of air toxins like benzene and formaldehyde, known human carcinogens.
Sierra Club and its NGO allies played a key role in securing this outcome by intervening in the case to defend the EPA rule and submitting three briefs rebutting the industry groups’ specious legal arguments. Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program has been at the forefront of advocacy for strong oil and gas sector pollution controls for well over a decade. This case is the latest in a series of legal actions carried out by Sierra Club to ensure that communities are vigorously protected against oil and gas sector pollution to the greatest extent possible. As this litigation proceeds, we will continue to argue in favor of EPA’s rigorous methane safeguards and will deploy all our resources to fight back against industry’s baseless attacks. Sierra Club is represented in this case by Environmental Law Program Senior Attorney Andres Restrepo and Legal Director Joanne Spalding.