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Pearce Votes To Overtrun BLM Methane Rule

Commentary:  Congressman Steve Pearce voted to overturn the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Venting and Flaring Rule, which imposes arbitrary and unenforceable methane emission standards on oil and gas production.  

“The impacts of BLM’s Venting and Flaring are devastating to the economy of New Mexico. Roughly forty percent of the State’s operating funds come from revenues off of resource production. This rule will result in a loss of jobs, diminished funding for education, hospitals, law enforcement, and other essential services, and our economy will continue to suffer,” said Rep. Pearce.

The BLM Venting and Flaring Rule was a last minute regulation passed by the Obama Administration in an attempt to limit the production of oil and gas on federal lands. The statutory authority to regulate air quality is solely vested with the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress would have to authorize the BLM to do the job of the EPA, creating unnecessary regulatory authority to enforce the venting and flaring regulation. 

“The truth of the matter is, methane emissions from natural gas have declined twenty-one percent since 1990, while production has increased by forty-seven percent. This regulation solely adds duplicative layers of monitoring and reporting to all of New Mexico’s small and midsize oil and gas producer,” said Rep. Pearce. “Expediting this process to repeal the rule and cutting the red tape will preserve and create jobs while capturing more product. I will never stop fighting to make it a safer, more prosperous place to live, and that is why I adamantly support the removal of this rule.”

Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress has the ability to overturn recently created federal regulations with a joint resolution passed by both chambers and signed by the President.

The House Joint Resolution passed the House by a vote of 221-191.