Supreme Court Won’t Block One Onerous EPA Reg, Jury Out on Another

EPA Administrator Michael Regan used a considerable amount of fossil energy and emitted tons of carbon dioxide to jet over to Dubai last December to participate in the COP28 confab, where he released a final rule that was “two years in the making” to force the U.S. oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions by using budget-busting new technologies and onerous (frequent) inspections (see Bidenistas Unleash Hellscape of U.S. Methane Regs at COP28). A group of 26 states asked the swamp-dwelling judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) to temporarily block the EPA rule while a lawsuit by the states (and others) plays out. Unsurprisingly, the swamp-dwelling judges turned the states down in July, allowing the EPA’s onerous new reg to commence (see DC Circuit Allows EPA Attack on O&G Via Methane Reg to Commence). In August, the states suing to end the regulation filed an emergency stay request with the U.S. Supreme Court (see States Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Emergency Block EPA Methane Reg). On Friday, the Supremes decided to be not so supreme after all and elected not to block the rule.

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