GOP-led states urge Supreme Court to pause EPA plan meant to cut methane emissions by 80%

By John Fritze, CNN

(CNN) — Republican officials in 24 states asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to halt a Biden administration effort to reduce emissions of the planet-warming gas methane, adding to a series of emergency appeals challenging environmental regulations.

Led by Oklahoma, the states are asking the high court to pause an Environmental Protection Agency rule that went into effect earlier this year and that the agency estimates will slash methane emissions from oil and gas operations by nearly 80% through 2038.

The latest filing is part of a much broader campaign by the groups battling Biden administration environmental regulations, a push that has repeatedly resonated with the Supreme Court’s conservative majority in recent years.

Many of the same states and industry groups have filed other emergency appeals in recent weeks challenging different regulations, including those to curb power plant pollution and mercury emissions.

An appeals court in Washington, DC, previously denied the states’ request to put the new methane regulations on hold.

Methane, the main component of natural gas and a byproduct of fossil fuel drilling, is a powerful source of climate pollution with more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere.

The states accused the EPA of “thrashing around for tools to address this administration’s concerns about climate change.” They told the Supreme Court that the EPA’s requirement that states design plans within a two-year period would be “impossible.”

Given the agency’s history of regulation, the states said, its “attack” on “the oil and gas industry comes as no surprise.”

The Supreme Court is likely to take several weeks, at least, to consider the request.

A 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court in June upended Biden’s effort to reduce smog and air pollution wafting across state lines in what was known as the “good neighbor” rule. That case also originated on the court’s emergency docket. In recent years, the court has also rolled back or paused other rules limiting power plant emissions and water quality.

CNN’s Ella Nilsen contributed to this report. 

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