The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a joint resolution, co-sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), to repeal a Biden administration rule imposing a methane emissions fee on American oil and gas producers.
Led by Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) in the Senate and Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) in the House, the measure leverages the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to nullify the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation, which took effect on January 17, 2025. The resolution now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.
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The EPA rule, titled “Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems,” introduced a fee on methane emissions from onshore and offshore natural gas production, as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) import, export, and storage operations.
Finalized in November 2024 and published in the Federal Register (89 Fed. Reg. 91094), it aimed to curb greenhouse gas emissions but drew sharp criticism from energy-rich states and industry advocates who labeled it a punitive tax on a vital economic sector.
“For four years, the Biden administration waged war on oil and gas drilling—and hardworking Americans paid the price because of that,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Today, the Senate voted to roll back another misguided policy and unleash U.S. energy production.” The Louisiana senator, representing a state heavily reliant on oil and gas jobs, helped introduce the resolution earlier this month alongside Hoeven, framing it as a rollback of overreach that inflated energy costs for consumers.
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The resolution’s passage marks a swift rebuke of the Biden-era policy under the CRA, a tool allowing Congress to overturn recent federal regulations with a simple majority vote.
Having cleared both chambers—Pfluger’s companion measure passed the House earlier this week—it now heads to the White House, where Trump, a vocal supporter of fossil fuel industries, is expected to sign it into law. Once enacted, the EPA rule will be rendered void, relieving producers of the methane fee and its compliance burdens.
The move aligns with a broader push by Republican lawmakers to dismantle environmental regulations they argue hamstring domestic energy production. Critics of the fee, including Kennedy and Hoeven, contend it unfairly targeted an industry already navigating volatile markets and regulatory pressures.
The rule’s supporters, however, warn that scrapping it could undermine efforts to address climate change, as methane—a potent greenhouse gas—accounts for a significant share of emissions from oil and gas operations.
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