Washington, DC -- Late today, Scott Pruitt’s Environmental Protection Agency announced it will seek a two year delay on parts of its standards to reduce methane from the oil and gas industry. Last week, Pruitt and the EPA were sued by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for illegally issuing a 90 day stay of these New Source Performance Standards.
In response, Sierra Club Chief Climate Counsel Joanne Spalding released the following statement:
“It’s clear that Scott Pruitt and Donald Trump will stop at nothing to permit the fossil fuel industry to continue polluting our communities. Just the other week, Pruitt himself noted the threat posed by methane pollution, but he’s purposefully allowing people across the country to suffer from it. This isn’t simply mean-spirited, it’s a deliberate attempt to benefit the oil and gas industry at the expense of our public health. Delaying the implementation of the standards last week was illegal and extending that 90-day stay to two years is equally invalid.”
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