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The rewritten rule will eliminate complicated and costly regulations for companies operating on federal lands, said the Interior Ministry, but environmental groups have criticized the change as harmful to the environment, noting that the methane contributes much more to climate change than carbon dioxide, the most commonly emitted greenhouse gas.
In the hours following the announcement of the administration, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that he would challenge the rewritten rule in court. The issue has been debated in various federal courts since the Obama administration finalized its version in 2016.
The current version of the rule allows oil operations on public lands to release or burn – known as venting or flaring – well gas. Ventilation and flaring are performed for various reasons as part of the extraction process. The Obama administration had called for producers to demand that they capture rather than waste those gases and charge royalties.
Ministry of the Interior officials have refused to say how the rewritten rule would affect the amount of gas released. These figures are included in an assessment that will be made public in the coming days, they said.
Since its inception, the Bureau of Land Management, the petroleum industry and environmental groups have addressed the rule in a number of tribunals, which has prevented its most contentious aspects from taking effect.
The new version will eliminate "heavy and redundant requirements" that disadvantage small drilling operations, which account for about 7 out of 10 wells on public lands, said Katharine MacGregor, Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
The Obama administration's rule would present operators of small wells a difficult choice, MacGregor said.
"Do you want to pay for and install a lot of new equipment on these wells, or is it more profitable for them – and a choice to make – to close this production?" she asked.
Two industry groups that fought in court – the Western Energy Alliance and the Independent Petroleum Association of America – said the Trump administration had set the "unrealistic understanding of the real impact on our member societies."
The Environmental Defense Fund has said it will challenge the rewritten waste prevention rule. Combined with the EPA's proposal, the BLM rule "would be a weak federal framework" to reduce emissions. Western Values Project, which defends federal land issues, said the decision was "made to appease the industry at the expense of the taxpayer".
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