Western Energy Alliance and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) today achieved an important victory in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming, along with the states of Montana, North Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Judge Scott Skavdahl’s decision vacated the 2016 waste prevention rule, an overreaching methane regulation finalized in the waning days of the Obama Administration that unlawfully granted air quality authority to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
When the rule was originally finalized in November 2016 at the end of President Barack Obama’s administration, the Alliance and IPAA along with the states challenged it in the Wyoming court. The Trump Administration finalized a new rule in 2018 that corrected the unlawful aspects of the original. When environmental groups, California and New Mexico obtained a court ruling overturning the 2018 rule from the Northern District of California, our case in Wyoming was restarted. Today’s ruling by Judge Scott Skavdahl ends the seesawing litigation between the two courts. DENVER – Western Energy Alliance’s president, Kathleen Sgamma, will testify at a hearing titled Interior’s Royalty Cuts: Thoughtful Policy or Industry Giveaway? before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Sgamma will explain how the temporary royalty relief granted in response to the global pandemic by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is a small reduction that helps ensure royalty revenue generation far into the future. The virtual hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 6th, at 2:00 p.m. ET, and will be available to view on the committee’s website.
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