EU Council Backs 1-Year Methane Rule Delay – With a Snooze Button

Europe's two lawmaking bodies are now officially at odds over how long to delay the EU's crazy methane import rules. Last Friday (Nov. 6), ambassadors for the EU's 27 member governments (the Council) agreed, on their third try, to back a one-year delay. That sides with the European Commission (the EU's executive branch) and against the European Parliament, which voted 341-225 on Oct. 22 for a three-year delay (see Europe Blinks Again: Parliament Votes 3-Year Methane Rule Delay). But the Council's version comes with a twist we like: if the tools needed to comply aren't ready by fall 2027, the Commission must push the import deadlines back another year. Think of it as a snooze button. Now the Council and Parliament have 49 days to agree on one text, or the original Jan. 1, 2027 rules kick in. That matters a lot to U.S. LNG (liquefied natural gas) exporters, and to the Marcellus/Utica drillers and royalty owners whose gas feeds them.

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