Red States Lose Request to Freeze Oil and Gas Methane Standards

Oil and gas methane standards recently finalized by the EPA won’t be frozen while Texas and a coalition of other Republican-led states fight the action in court, according to a Tuesday order.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in a single-page order that the petitioners didn’t meet the criteria needed for a stay of the rule.

Petitioners asked the court for a stay in May, claiming that they were likely to win the case given that the agency “failed its statutory duties” by not adequately considering the rule’s detrimental effects on smaller oil and ...