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Trump Administration Delays Implementation of BLM Methane Rule

Eddie Hagler
/
Creative Commons

Environmentalists are reacting with dismay to a one-year delay in implementation of a rule designed to reduce methane waste associated with oil and gas drilling. On Friday, the Trump administration announced it would suspend the Bureau of Land Management’s rule, which was finalized under the Obama administration. The rule required the industry to capture the potent greenhouse gas, a byproduct of drilling, rather than venting it into the atmosphere or burning it. In a release, Emily Bowie of the Durango-based San Juan Citizens Alliance said BLM administrators have proved they’re “not interested in the economic or physical health of the people they’re supposed to serve.” She said the decision means at least $182 million worth of natural gas in New Mexico will be wasted, costing the state $27 million in lost revenues.

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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