Groups Ask Court to Throw Out Trump EPA Rule That Delays Protections Against Oil and Gas Methane Pollution

Denver, CO —

A dozen health, environment, and community groups are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to throw out a Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Rule delaying the 2024 methane standards for the oil and gas industry — standards that keep dangerous pollution out of our air and reduce wasted energy from oil and gas leaks, venting, and flaring.

The groups filed a motion for summary vacatur with the court today. If granted, summary vacatur would annul the Trump EPA rule that’s delaying the 2024 oil and gas methane standards and allowing industry bad actors to pollute more, and would return those commonsense standards to full effect.

“EPA has no valid reason to issue a rule without soliciting public comment first,” said Alexandra Schluntz, senior attorney at Earthjustice. “The compliance rule was set to reduce U.S. emissions by 2%, which is a truly impressive amount for one single rule and an important protection from health harms like cardiac and respiratory issues. That’s why we’re asking the court to strike down this shortsighted interim rule.”

The groups’ motion objects to the secrecy with which EPA established its Delay Rule, pointing out that the agency offered no opportunity for public input before the rule became effective, in clear violation of the law:

“EPA’s action substantially delays compliance dates under a final Clean Air Act rule the agency issued in 2024 … which provides critical protections against some of the nation’s largest sources of air pollution. The Delay Rule thereby increases harms to public health and damage to the climate — yet does so summarily, without prior notice and public comment as the [law requires] … The Delay Rule is blatantly illegal.” (Motion, page 1)

The motion also points out how the Delay Rule increases risks to people’s health and the country’s economy:

The Groups’ “members and their families live, work, and recreate in close proximity to new and existing oil and gas facilities that are subject to the 2024 Rule and the Delay Rule. These facilities emit hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds which contribute to ground-level ozone and cause respiratory illness, cancer, and other health harms for people living near exposure … [and] EPA previously… determined the 2024 Rule would prevent $110 billion in climate damages.”  (Motion, pages 11-12,9)

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a climate pollutant that is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. It is responsible for approximately one-third of the warming that we have experienced to date, driving climate change and the worsening floods, wildfires, heatwaves, and other severe weather events that are harming people across the country. Control methods for methane also reduce emissions of other health-harming pollutants, and failure to control methane leaks results in billions of dollars each year in wasted product.

The 2024 methane standards reduced pollution through commonsense steps like requiring leak detection and repairs. Proven and cost-effective solutions are available today to help oil and gas operators meet the standards that protect our climate and health while also reducing monetary losses and waste. Both large and independent producers have gone on record in support of federal methane regulation and major oil and gas producing states including Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico have already been implementing the standards.

In spite of all that, the Trump EPA decided to delay requirements that companies comply with the new source standards for as long as 18 months — even though the standards have been in place protecting Americans for more than a year now — and delayed the deadline for states to submit plans to reduce emission from existing sources by 10 months.

Environmental Defense Fund, Clean Air Council, Clean Air Task Force, Dakota Resource Council, Earthjustice, Earthworks, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Food & Water Watch, Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights (Fort Berthold POWER), GreenLatinos, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), and Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on July 31, 2025. Today the same groups and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a motion asking the court to grant summary vacatur.