The top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee accused Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Tuesday of skirting the law when he announced his intention to roll back the Obama administration’s rules for cutting methane emissions from fracking on public lands.
The issue was front-and-center at a Tuesday hearing in the committee on the Interior Department’s budget.
“You cannot just change this rule without notice and without comment,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in her opening remarks. “You cannot make up your own new regulations without due process.”
She then asked Zinke, “Do you believe you are responsible for complying with the Administrative Procedures Act?” She also asked if Zinke thought following the act, which dictates how regulations are finalized or revised, is “important.”
Zinke responded that he is following all procedures within the law, and explained that in May, legislation to kill the regulation failed by one vote in the House. Cantwell then cut him off by asking, “Does that mean you are free to do as you want?”
“What I said, ma’am, was my position on methane, I think it’s a waste,” he said. He explained that burning off methane gas, or flaring, is a waste of a resource, and that the administration is looking at the rule for opportunities to provide incentives for industry to assist in collecting the gas as a business proposition.
She asked him again if he intends to follow proper legal procedure on providing notice and comment on any plans to revise the rule, which is currently in effect.
“So, you are going to have a public notice and comment period as part of that?” she asked.
Zinke responded, “Absolutely.”
He added that the public notice “is now open as it sits right now,” and “we entered into the register the procedure in order to change the rule.”
Cantwell concluded her questioning on that topic, saying, “we will look forward on following up on that with you.”
Cantwell said that she and her Democratic colleagues would be sending Zinke a letter later on Tuesday on the need to follow legal procedure in reversing a regulation. Her major qualms is with Zinke’s interpretation of the law in reversing a regulation by improperly equating the “effective” date of a rule with its “compliance” date.
“Apart from our disagreements with some of your policies, we are troubled that your agency continues to seek out new ways to circumvent administrative law,” the letter stated. “The suspension of parts of the Methane Waste and Prevention Rule seems particularly brazen given that on May 10 the Senate rejected a Congressional Review Act resolution to repeal the Rule.”
Cantwell led a campaign to successfully block a GOP-backed resolution that would have overturned the methane regulations earlier this year.
The Bureau of Land Management’s methane rules would require oil and gas drillers to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas. The regulations were part of former President Barack Obama’s climate agenda.
