washington<u+2014>the interior department issued regulations tuesday to cut<u+00a0>methane<u+00a0>emissions from oil and natural-gas operations on federal lands, one of the last moves president barack obama will make on his expansive climate agenda, which president-elect donald trump has vowed to dismantle . the rules are aimed at helping meet an obama administration goal of cutting the oil-and-gas industry<u+2019>s emissions of<u+00a0>methane, a potent greenhouse gas, by as much as 45% from 2012 levels over the next decade. the u.s. government is unlikely to meet that goal because mr. trump has been clear that he intends to reverse mr. obama<u+2019>s climate agenda and withdraw rules that could restrict oil and natural-gas development. however, the president-elect hasn<u+2019>t explicitly said he would undo this<u+00a0>methane<u+00a0>rule or another similar one at the environmental protection agency. <u+201c>this rule to prevent waste of our nation<u+2019>s natural gas supplies is good government, plain and simple,<u+201d> interior secretary sally jewell said in a statement. <u+201c>we are proving that we can cut harmful methane emissions that contribute to climate change, while putting in place standards that make good economic sense for the nation.<u+201d> the american petroleum institute criticized the regulations by the interior department<u+2019>s bureau of land management, saying it wasn<u+2019>t needed. <u+201c>if the goal is to prevent emissions, not impede u.s. energy production, then the blm should focus on fixing permitting, infrastructure and pipeline delays that slow our nation<u+2019>s ability to capture more natural gas and deliver affordable energy to consumers,<u+201d> the group said. meanwhile, the independent petroleum association of america and the western energy alliance, another group representing independents, filed a lawsuit challenging the final rule tuesday, saying it went beyond the powers congress had granted the blm to regulate air quality. <u+201c>this is an 11th-hour shot by an administration that doesn<u+2019>t fully understand how its rules impact our businesses,<u+201d> said dan naatz, the ipaa<u+2019>s senior vice president of government relations and political affairs. oil-and-gas production has boomed in the u.s. over the past decade thanks to new extraction technologies such as hydraulic fracturing. still, federal lands account for a small portion of domestic drilling<u+2014>11% of the nation<u+2019>s natural gas supply and 5% of its oil supply<u+2014>according to interior department data. the interior department regulations,<u+00a0>first proposed<u+00a0>in january 2016, include the first-ever federal limits on flaring, a process in which excess gas, whose primary component is<u+00a0>methane, is burned off as carbon dioxide. the rules also include a requirement that companies regularly inspect for<u+00a0>methane<u+00a0>leaks. with the onset of the energy boom, some companies have taken to flaring or venting gas, emitting the<u+00a0>methane<u+00a0>itself straight into the atmosphere, if pipelines or other infrastructure aren<u+2019>t immediately available to transport and process it. the new rules would require energy companies to capture the<u+00a0>methane<u+00a0>and ship it as fuel. methane<u+00a0>has a warming impact on the planet 25 times that of carbon dioxide, though it lasts not nearly as long in the atmosphere, according to the obama administration. the regulations by the interior department are part of a recent sprint throughout the administration to<u+00a0>release rules<u+00a0>before mr. obama leaves the white house. some of mr. obama<u+2019>s major environmental rules have been challenged in court, and mr. trump has said he would review all of them and likely work to rescind most of them. mr. trump and gop leaders in congress have a couple of different avenues to block mr. obama<u+2019>s recently completed rules. congress can use a little-known law called the congressional review act to nullify rules that have been completed<u+00a0>within 60 days<u+00a0>that congress is in session, a time period that often extends much longer than a couple of months since lawmakers aren<u+2019>t in session every weekday. given that the gop controls both chambers of congress and will hold white house next year, undoing mr. obama<u+2019>s regulatory agenda this way will be one of the easiest avenues. some legislative experts say rules that could fall under this 60-day window might extend as far back as may, as congress has been in session so few days in the second half of this year. nov. 20<u+00a0>has been considered the unofficial deadline by which the obama administration must issue rules before the window opens for the incoming trump administration to stop the rules unilaterally. most regulations require at least 60 days between a rule being final and it going into effect. if a new administration steps in sometime in that 60-day window, the incoming president can put an indefinite hold on the rule<u+2019>s effective date. <u+2014>lynn cook contributed to this article. write to amy harder at amy.harder@wsj.com
obama administration issues rules on methane from oil, gas operations  - wsj
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