Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org, 914-261-4626
Washington, DC -- The Sierra Club and a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s latest assault on critical safeguards against oil and gas pollution.
Under the leadership of former fossil fuel lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, Trump’s EPA took final action to weaken rules that require oil and gas companies to monitor and repair leaking equipment. EPA’s action also deregulated fracked gas transmission and storage equipment and stripped away limits on methane pollution for the entire industry. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is 87 times more powerful than carbon dioxide during the time it remains in the atmosphere.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, will argue that EPA’s actions are unlawful under the Clean Air Act and that the agency must fully reinstate and enforce standards issued in 2016 under the Obama administration. The groups also requested that the Court require EPA to continue enforcing methane standards for the full oil and gas industry as this legal challenge proceeds.
“With a rapidly warming planet and the most devastating global pandemic in 100 years, the Trump administration has somehow seen fit to worsen both of these crises by attacking safeguards that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and clean up the air we breathe,” said Sierra Club Staff Attorney Andres Restrepo. “We will not stand by as Trump’s EPA guts commonsense, low-cost protections against dangerous oil and gas pollution in order to pad the pockets of oil and gas executives. The courts have repeatedly rejected this administration’s attempts to give a free pass to corporate polluters, and we are confident that this will be no exception. That’s why we’re taking Trump and Wheeler to court, and it’s why we expect to win. Our families and communities deserve no less.”
“Methane pollution is a disaster for our air, our climate, and public health. At a time when we should be curbing pollution, the Trump administration wants to let the oil and gas industry off the hook. We won’t let them line the industry’s pockets at the expense of people’s health,” said Caitlin Miller, Earthjustice Associate Attorney.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.