BLM now second federal agency to push for fewer rules on methane pollution

Following the lead of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has released its own rollback of methane protections on federal lands. The Obama-era Waste Prevention Rule required oil and gas companies on public and tribal lands to reduce the inefficient and unnecessary leaking, venting, and flaring of methane gas. And for good reason: Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with hundreds to thousands the climate-warming power of carbon dioxide; it also produces health-harming smog. So who benefits from the reversal? The Trump administration’s BLM claims overall cost savings—for oil and gas companies. But they’re conveniently forgetting the net benefits, which Obama’s BLM accounted for, that will decrease healthcare costs and help mitigate the expensive burden of looming climate change for the rest of us