Because of the law's strict time limit, it also represented the GOP's last chance to repeal the Obama-era methane rule under the CRA. Instead, the ingrates countered that industry was already acting to reduce methane emissions including a 38 percent decline between 2005 and 2015 for natural gas producers even as production rose by 33 percent, and a 21 percent decline from oil production since 1991.
As the clock ticked down toward the final hours that the Senate could use the Congressional Review Act with a simple majority - the deadline is Thursday - Republicans failed in a procedural vote to turn back the Bureau of Land Management regulation. Since February, Republican lawmakers have used the Congressional Review Act to revoke 13 rules on a myriad of topics, including workplace safety and hunting in Alaska. That echoes a similar sentiment from Graham. The regulation required oil and gas companies to limit methane emissions from their drilling sites on federal lands, citing that venting the gas wasted roughly $330 million per year.
The methane rule was one of a suite of environmental regulations put in place by Obama as he sought to use his executive authority to tackle climate change across the economy.
While Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told Bloomberg he has never been very comfortable with the waste of natural gas from public land, his department said after the vote it had flagged the Waste Prevention rule as one we will suspend, revise or rescind..
The first coalbed methane production in Utah occurred in 1987 and according to the Utah Division of Natural Resources 28 billion cubic feet of methane gas was produced in the state during 2016. McCain having an animated conversation with Republican colleagues, before casting his "no" vote, and hurrying out of the chamber.
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Patrick Ward, a 47-year-old sales director, said his heart operation, which was scheduled for Friday, was cancelled at St. FedEx appears to be the first US -based target, though Kalember said he is aware of others who have not spoken publicly.
Sen. John McCain cast a surprise vote against the measure, joining Democrats and fellow Republicans Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins to defeat the repeal attempt in a 49-51 vote. "The rule could impede US energy production while reducing local and federal government revenues". Dean Heller, R-Nev., voted to lift it. In addition, they blamed the BLM's dilatory approval of pipelines for much of the flaring since that blocked companies from capturing and transporting lots of the gas their wells produced.
With the Methane Rule set to be the next regulation repealed, three Republican Senators chose to join with the Democrats and vote against the resolution - Senators John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of SC and Susan Collins of Maine.
Whatever the reason, environmental concerns trumped business interests in this round, and the Obama-era methane rule remains intact-for now.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said New Mexico and other Western states where drilling is common will be able to prevent the waste of taxpayer-owned natural gas and shrink a huge methane plume that hangs over the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
A coalition of groups with ties to the fossil-fuel industry and the conservative Koch Brothers had waged a public campaign to overturn the rule, which they said would decrease energy production on federal lands, raise energy costs and eliminate jobs.
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