Senate Fails to Advance Methane Rule Repeal as Democrats Unite

The measure failed on a vote of 51-to-49 in the Republican-led chamber.

The vote was 51-49 in the Republican-led Senate with three GOP lawmakers – Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of SC and John McCain of Arizona – joining forces with the Democrats to block efforts to overturn the rule.

Wednesday’s vote was a surprise for lawmakers and those following the repeal.

The vote had been so close that Vice President Mike Pence had come to Capitol Hill to split any tie in favor of repeal. “It’s so clear from the states have done this right, you can do this in a way that makes money in the long run”, said Sen.

President Trump has already signed 14 such repeal measures since assuming office, washing out environmental, labor, and financial rules implemented by the Obama administration.

The rule aims to minimize wasted natural gas resources on public and tribal lands by requiring companies to look for and fix leaks, minimize burning and prohibit direct venting of gas into the atmosphere. The only real entity opposing the rule was the industry, which spent millions of dollars trying to kill it. Common sense and the well-being of our families won out over reckless devotion to one industry’s demands.

Republican leaders were seeking to overturn the Interior Department rule under the Congressional Review Act.

“The rule could impede USA energy production while reducing local and federal revenues”, said API Upstream and Industry Operations Group Director Erik Milito. Analysis by Environmental Resources Management on the proposed rule found that the added cost of compliance could result in up to 40% of wells that flare on federal lands being permanently uneconomic to produce. Some other states have followed suit with similar limits. This rule was meant to reduce the amount of wasted natural gas and keep methane emissions to a minimum.

The BLM’s rationale for the rule is that by wasting a valuable resource producers are denying taxpayers royalties that would otherwise be collected and that released methane is a potent climate warming greenhouse gas.

Donald Trump has supported ditching the methane rule, which requires operators to use the latest technology to prevent leaks, and the House passed a bill to get rid of it. “It’s the path that Colorado started in 2014, that California continued recently”. A video of the vote and shrug shows McCain then walking off of the Senate floor as the motion to repeal fails. The state’s Republican senator, Steve Daines, voted to strike the regulation. “We’re disappointed the Senate wasn’t able to stop President Obama’s unworkable rule by a federal agency that does not have the congressionally granted authority to regulate air quality”, said Barry Russell, the group’s president.

McCain seemed to imply that rescinding the rule would have imperiled future action on methane.

“With that said, we are deeply disappointed in Sen”.

“We are definitively better off with this rule in place, which enables producers to use simple affordable solutions to prevent waste and save resources”, Udall said in a statement.

The vote was a rare victory for environmentalists under the Trump White House.