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Bureau of Land Management finalizes suspension of methane rule

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Bureau of Land Management finalizes suspension of methane rule

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Dec. 8 will suspend or delay key parts of the agency's 2016 methane waste prevention rule, according to a notice slated for publication in the Federal Register.

"The BLM has concerns regarding the statutory authority, cost, complexity, feasibility, and other implications of the 2016 final rule, and therefore intends to avoid imposing likely considerable and immediate compliance costs on operators for requirements that may be rescinded or significantly revised in the near future," the agency said in the notice.

The original regulation, finalized under the Obama administration, limited methane emissions from oil and gas operations on federal land.

The final delay rule pushes compliance until January 2019 for a number of provisions, including waste minimization plan requirements for drillers, constraints on flaring, gas capture thresholds, measuring and reporting stipulations, and specific options for how extracted gas is to be used or disposed of.

The bureau acknowledged that the final delay rule temporarily suspends or delays almost all of the requirements in the 2016 final rule that were expected to result in gas savings or reductions in methane emissions. The BLM said the delay would translate to an additional 175,000 tons of methane and 250,000 tons of volatile organic compound emissions during the year the rule provisions are on hold. The agency predicted a $2.6 million royalty reduction associated with the delay, as well.

The BLM plans to use the extra year to analyze the rule's costs and benefits.

The agency estimated that the delay would translate to a postponement of $110 million to $114 million in compliance costs during the first year and total reductions in compliance costs of between $40 million and $91 million over 2017-2027.

The public had 30 days to comment on the agency's plans for postponing the regulation. While many in the industry expressed support for the proposal — especially if it would give the bureau time to re-evaluate whether the rule's provisions are cost-effective — other commenters highlighted concerns.

Many commenters worried that the 2017 final delay rule would result in waste of natural gas through venting, flaring and leaking of natural gas from oil and gas operators, and several comments argued that the rule would have a negative impact on the climate and on public health and safety. The BLM did not change its proposal in response to these comments.

President Donald Trump in March told the BLM, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, to consider suspending, revising or rescinding the agency's rule limiting methane emissions from oil and gas producers on public lands. The agency tried in June to suspend the rule indefinitely without going through the notice and comment process. The attempted rule delay was shot down in court in October. On the same day the court told the agency to reinstate the rule, the BLM put out the notice detailing plans for suspending key parts of the rule until Jan. 17, 2019, and indicating that the agency would be taking comment on this proposal.