Red states ask Supreme Court to halt EPA’s methane rule

A coalition of Republican-led states is asking the Supreme Court to halt the Biden administration’s effort to cut methane from oil and gas production. 

The 23 state attorneys general and Arizona’s GOP-led Legislature are asking the Supreme Court to block the implementation of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that requires oil and gas wells to control leaks of planet-warming methane. 

Their appeal comes after a lower court declined to do so. It marks the latest in a string of efforts from Republican-led states to block pollution and climate rules through the high court. 

The states argued the EPA overstepped its authority in the rule. They argued that although the federal government is allowed to set emissions limits, the rule is too prescriptive to the states in how to achieve methane emissions cuts. 

The EPA declined to comment. When it announced the rule late last year, it said it expected it to have significant climate benefits and also said it would reduce releases of toxic substances.

Methane is a greenhouse gas that can be 30 times as powerful at warming the planet as carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. It is the main component of natural gas and is released during its production. 

The states suing over the rule are Oklahoma, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as the Arizona Legislature.

Zach Schonfeld contributed.