Trump’s EPA delays protections from oil and gas pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is putting polluters before the public health and the environment (again) by placing a 90-day stay on rules to curb methane emissions from oil and gas operations. The agency says the rules, enacted last year and set to take full effect on June 3, may be delayed indefinitely. The oil and gas sector is the largest U.S. industrial emitter of methane, a potent greenhouse gas and the second-biggest driver of climate change after carbon dioxide. Methane leaks also release smog-forming and cancer-causing chemicals, endangering public health. The EPA’s regulatory delay will allow companies to emit thousands of tons of this heat-trapping, smog-forming pollutant into the air, forcing communities across the country to breathe dirtier air. In response, NRDC will be taking the Trump administration to court to block its latest giveaway to the fossil fuel industry.

Related Content