American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016 - 20

IndustryDigest
be on the CASAC PM panel, 24 have
been paid, or are being paid, in excess
of $190 million.
"If our lawsuit succeeds, it would
change the way EPA does all these
panels because they all are composed
the same: People get nominated; the
nominations go into the EPA black box;
and EPA picks the names it wants,"
Milloy adds.
E&E General Counsel David
Schnare states, "Both the Clean Air Act
and the Federal Advisory Committee
Act require that the CASAC PM panel
be independent and unbiased. We are
asking the court to determine that an
EPA advisory panel that operates on a
consensus basis, but that is 90 percent
composed of highly-paid EPA cronies,
does not meet the requirements of the
law." ❒

State AGs Back Lawsuit
To Revive Keystone XL
The six states through which the
Keystone XL Pipeline would have
passed have filed briefs with the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District
of Texas in Houston, supporting
TransCanada Corp.'s attempt to
overturn President Obama's decision to
deny a border-crossing permit to the
proposed 1,187-mile pipeline that
would have carried oil from Alberta's
tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast,
according to published reports.
TransCanada sued the U.S.
government in January, after President
Obama had announced in November
that he would not grant the necessary
permit. TransCanada's lawsuit named
Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney
General Loretta Lynch, Homeland
Security Secretary Jeh Charles Johnson,
and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell,
reports note.
Signing the states' amicus brief were
the attorneys general for Kansas,
Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota,
Texas and Oklahoma.
According to reports, the states' brief
argues President Obama "trampled on
the power of Congress and the states to
regulate interstate and international
commerce," and caused the states harm
through the loss of tens of thousands of
jobs and billions of dollars in economic
activity.
In recommending the president reject
20 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Keystone XL, Secretary of State Kerry
said a critical factor was his determination
that "moving forward with this project
would undermine significantly our ability
to continue leading the world in
combatting climate change" (AOGR,
December 2015, pg. 30).
The attorneys general call that a
"remarkable assertion," according to
reports, arguing in their brief, "If such
tenuous connections to international
stature and potential negotiations is
sufficient to provide the president
constitutional authority to act, there is
no limit to the power of an enterprising
president to dream up reasons to
exercise authority far beyond what the
constitution contemplates in a manner
that could prove disastrous to the states."
Published reports say the
government contends the president has
the right to act independently in an area
where Congress has not specifically
limited his authority, arguing, "In the
nearly one and a half centuries of
executive exercise of authority over a
wide range of cross-border facilities,
Congress has never questioned the
president's authority." ❒

Industry Groups Say
BLM Has Overstepped
With Flaring Rules
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Bureau of
Land Management's proposed rule on
venting and flaring natural gas on
federal leases is an attempt to regulate
air quality that is outside the agency's
purview, according to industry
comments.
The comments were filed in late
April by the Independent Petroleum
Association of America in conjunction
with the Western Energy Alliance,
American Exploration & Production
Council, and the U.S. Oil & Gas
Association.
In January, BLM issued a proposed
rule that generally prohibits venting
natural gas except for emergencies
(AOGR, February 2016, pg. 31). The
proposed rule would limit gas flaring to:
* 72 million cubic feet a month
during a well's first year of production;
* 30 MMcf a month during the
second year; and
* 18 MMcf a month thereafter.
The proposed rule also would require
operators to submit waste minimization

plans with their applications for permits
to drill, and mandates instrument-based
leak detection programs.
The industry comments contend the
rule "is arbitrary and in excess of
BLM's legal authority. Among other
things, the proposed rule is in direct
conflict with the written approvals that
BLM has given to hundreds of operators
to vent and flare. It also is focused in
many respects on reducing methane
emissions, which BLM lacks authority
to do, rather than preventing the 'waste'
of gas."
The comments also suggest BLM
should focus its resources toward
processing applications for pipeline
rights of way, saying "timely processing
. . . would have a much greater and
more immediate impact on reducing
flaring levels than BLM's proposed
one-size-fits-all, command-and-control
regulation."
IPAA Senior Vice President of
Government Relations and Political
Affairs Dan Naatz comments, "This
proposed rule is an arbitrary attempt at
regulating air, which is outside the
scope of jurisdiction held by BLM. The
rule also conflicts with . . . the rulemaking process within the
Environmental Protection Agency.
"This proposed rule adds regulatory
uncertainty for companies struggling to
stay in business and keep Americans
employed," Naatz goes on. "If
constraints on U.S. energy
infrastructure and pipelines were
addressed properly, companies would
have far fewer reasons to vent or flare
associated gas apart from safety
concerns."
The associations' comments can be
found at www.ipaa.org by clicking on
"Issues & Policies," then on "Current
Items," and then "Comments on
Regulations." ❒

Associations Challenge
Seismicity Conclusions
Of Texas Academics
AUSTIN, TX.-Two producer
associations are critical of a university
study that alleges more than 80 percent
of Texas earthquakes since 1975 may
have been induced by underground
injections related to oil and gas activity.
In May, the University of Texas at
Austin and Southern Methodist
American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016

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