Senate Can’t Pass Methane Rollback So Interior Decides To Do It Anyway

Hours after Senate Republicans’ failed attempt to overturn an Obama-era rule regulating methane emissions, the Trump administration announced it will take matters into its own hands. Kate MacGregor, the acting assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the Department of the Interior, said shortly after Wednesday’s vote that as part of President Donald Trump’s America-first energy plan, the agency has flagged the methane rule as one it will “suspend, revise or rescind given its significant regulatory burden that encumbers American energy production, economic growth and job creation.” The rule is one of several the Interior Department is reviewing as part of an executive order signed by Trump in March.In other words, the agency intends to do what Senate Republicans could not. It’s a move that would be seen by environmentalists as yet another attack on the climate and public health.