The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed on Nov. 28 a new methane venting and flaring rule for federal and tribal lands, drawing opposition from Republicans who say that last year’s infrastructure law would let the Biden administration reduce the waste of natural gas by other means.
“This draft rule is a common-sense, environmentally responsible solution as we address the damage that wasted natural gas causes. It puts the American taxpayer first and ensures producers pay appropriate royalties,” Tracy Stone-Manning, director of BLM, said in a statement.
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The proposed rule would mandate leak detection plans from operators and waste minimization plans from permit applicants.
The rule would also establish monthly caps for royalty-free flaring. Those limits would be defined in terms of both volume and time.
North Dakota Republicans Object
“The Department of the Interior’s proposed rule is nothing more than another layer of unnecessary, duplicative bureaucracy designed to impair oil and gas production on Federal and tribal land,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in a statement on the proposal.
Cramer believes that gap can be attributed to the difficulty of establishing needed takeaway infrastructure that can serve federal and Indian lands.
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In August, Cramer and 16 other Senate Republicans wrote to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, seeking an update on the implementation of Section 11318.
Cramer’s fellow North Dakotan, Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), shared similar sentiments on social media.
“The Biden admin is really good at making really bad policy,” he wrote on Twitter.
By contrast, some environmentalists think BLM’s proposal doesn’t go far enough.
Evergreen Action, an organization focused on climate change, issued a statement urging the Biden administration to “strengthen and finalize” the potential new rule.
The organization’s chief of staff, Lena Moffitt, claimed that “Big Oil is perpetuating wasteful industry practices that abuse and waste a publicly owned good.”
The Western Environmental Law Center wrote that the proposal “disappoints,” arguing that the administration could use the Mineral Leasing Act to restrict natural gas flaring and venting on public lands more aggressively.
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The proposed rule will soon be published in the Federal Register. People will then have 60 days to make public comments on it at the website Regulations.gov.