Texas Attorney General Joins In Wyoming Lawsuit Fighting Obama-Era Methane Regulations

AUSTIN, TX — The state's attorney general is intervening in another lawsuit against an Obama-era environmental regulation, this one related to methane gas regulation at the center of a federal lawsuit in Wyoming.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion seeking to intervene in litigation challenging a new rule by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that he said creates "redundant, expensive and unlawful regulation of methane gas venting and flaring on federal land."

Paxton's intervention challenges a regulation by the former administration late last year, and is the second lawsuit against BLM and also the second time Paxton has countered with legal challenge against federal methane regulations, he noted in a prepared statement.

“This is yet another case of gross federal overreach in which the Bureau of Land Management exceeded its legal authority, bypassing Congress to implement an unlawful rule on methane gas,” Paxton said. “The regulation has negligible environmental benefit and adds additional cost to both Texas and the oil and gas industry by creating more red tape.”

The so-called "Methane Waste Prevention Rule,” implemented last November by the Obama administration, classifies flared, vented and leaked methane gas produced from oil and natural gas extraction as a waste product regulated by BLM.

Representing the interests of his political base in a deep-red state, Paxton has proved himself a prolific joiner in other states' lawsuits against the Obama administration, even in its waning days. As Donald Trump was poised to be inaugurated, Paxton joined a 14-state lawsuit last month seeking a repeal a an expansion of the Endangered Species Act expansion. The repeal effort targeted two new rules that Paxton said broadly expand the definition of critical habitat for endangered species.

That lawsuit came one day after Paxton joined 13 other mostly Republican states in suing the federal government to block a federal rule limiting coal mining near waterways that was recently finalized.

To view a copy of the Paxton's latest motion to intervene, click here.

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