A federal court’s decision Thursday to strike down an Obama-era rule aimed at reducing methane leaks from fossil fuel operations on public and tribal lands is being seen as a “grave threat to the climate” and possible precursor to the type of corporate-friendly rulings the U.S. Supreme Court will more frequently issue should the GOP-controlled Senate confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett.At issue is the 2016 Waste Prevention Rule, which targets release of the potent greenhouse gas and which the Trump administration has sought to roll back.Judge Stephen Skavdahl of the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming found (pdf) that the “Bureau of Land Management exceeded its statutory authority and acted arbitrarily in promulgating the new regulations”—a ruling that left the oil and gas industry “overjoyed.”
Methane Ruling Seen as Ominous
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