North Dakota, Montana, Texas, and Wyoming filed a lawsuit in federal district court in North Dakota challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s final rule intended to reduce waste of natural gas from venting, flaring, and leads during oil and gas production activities on federal and Indian leases. The rule is also intended to compensate public and Indian mineral owners for waste gas through royalty payments. The four states alleged that the rule was “BLM’s second attempt to play the role of the Environmental Protection Agency … and use statutory authority given to the agency for the purpose of preventing the waste of federally owned oil and gas to promulgate sweeping greenhouse gas emission controls for putative climate change purposes,” as well as to expand federal regulation of State- and privately owned oil and gas. The states alleged that “very little has been done” to change the rule from a rule promulgated during the Obama administration that was <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/wyoming-v-united-states-department-of-interior/">vacated</a> by the District of Wyoming in 2020, and that, “[i]f anything, this variation … is brazenly unlawful than the one previously vacated.” The states asserted that the rule exceeded BLM’s authority under the Mineral Leasing Act and Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act, that it violated the Clean Air Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and that it was arbitrary and capricious.

Challenge to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s final rule intended to reduce waste of natural gas from venting, flaring, and leaks during oil and gas production activities on federal and Indian leases.

North Dakota v. U.S. Department of the Interior

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States Challenged BLM’s Waste Prevention Rule for Oil and Gas Production on Federal and Indian Leases

Filed

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States Challenged BLM’s Waste Prevention Rule for Oil and Gas Production on Federal and Indian Leases

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance