Federal Appeals Court blocks Trump EPA’s 90-day suspension of oil and gas well NSPS. - MIRATECH
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Federal Appeals Court blocks Trump EPA’s 90-day suspension of oil and gas well NSPS.

July 26, 2017

On July 3, 2017 a Federal Appeals Court struck down the Environmental Protection Agency’s 90-day suspension of new source performance standards (NSPS) on oil and gas wells, a decision that could set back the Trump administration’s broad legal strategy for rolling back Obama-era rules according to a July 3, 2017 report from the Washington Post.

In a 2-to-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the EPA had the right to reconsider a 2016 rule limiting methane and smog-forming pollutants emitted by oil and gas wells but could not delay the effective date while it sought to rewrite the regulation.

The agency has proposed extending the initial delay to two years; the court will hold a hearing on that suspension separately.

“The court’s ruling is yet another reminder, now in the context of environmental protection, that the federal judiciary remains a significant obstacle to the president’s desire to order immediate change,” Richard Lazarus, an environmental-law professor at Harvard Law School, said in an email.

“The D.C. Circuit’s ruling today makes clear that neither the president nor his EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, can by fiat unilaterally and instantaneously repeal or otherwise stay the effectiveness of the environmental protection rules put into place during the Obama administration,” he added.

What this means to you.
In a 2-to-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that the EPA had the right to reconsider a 2016 rule limiting methane and smog-forming pollutants emitted by oil and gas wells but could not delay the effective date while it sought to rewrite the regulation.

MIRATECH can help.
Contact MIRATECH to learn more about emission controls in energy infrastructure and on-site power generation.