Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today after the full Committee voted to favorably advance a resolution restoring the Obama-era methane pollution standards rolled back by the Trump Administration:
“Methane emissions are responsible for approximately one-third of the warming and climate disruption we live with today, and the Trump Administration’s elimination of emissions standards left the country with no protections in place to curb this dangerous pollution. This rollback was a significant retreat in the fight against climate change and was opposed by both environmentalists and the fossil fuel industry alike.
“By favorably reporting this joint resolution out of Committee today, we are soundly rejecting and nullifying one of the most egregious environmental rollbacks of the Trump Administration. I am proud the Committee acted to reinstate the critical Obama-era Clean Air Act protections so that we can safeguard Americans’ right to clean air and a healthy environment while also combating the climate crisis. I thank my colleagues Reps. Diana DeGette, Scott Peters, and Conor Lamb for their leadership on this issue and look forward to a vote of the full House soon."
H.J. Res. 34, a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to “Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources Review," was introduced by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Scott Peters (D-CA), and Conor Lamb (D-PA). It is a resolution of disapproval for the Trump Administration’s 2020 Recission Rule rolling back methane emissions standards. The Senate passed the companion S.J. Res. 14 on April 28, 2021, with a bipartisan vote of 52-42. If the joint disapproval resolution is enacted, the 2020 Recission rule “shall be treated as though such rule had never taken effect," reinstating the methane and other pollution reduction requirements established under the 2012 and 2016 Oil and Gas Rules. The resolution was passed by a vote of 30-22.
