Clean Air Council Statement on EPA’s Unlawful Delay of Methane Protections 

WASHINGTON D.C. (November 26, 2025) –  Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final rule to delay critical methane protections—which EPA released in 2024. This rule comes after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin unlawfully used the Interim Final Rule process to immediately delay the 2024 Methane Rule without allowing Americans, including impacted residents, to voice their concerns about how the delay will harm their health. 

The methane-mitigating technologies and strategies required by the rule are readily available and cost-effective. However, instead of requiring industry polluters to comply with these commonsense protections, Administrator Zeldin has illegally pushed the Delay Rule ahead to give oil and gas companies a free pass for their pollution.

As a result of this delay, people living closest to oil and gas infrastructure are continuing to be unnecessarily exposed to pollution from the industry, which would otherwise have been addressed through the 2024 Methane Rule. Once fully implemented, the 2024 Methane Rule is expected to reduce 58 million tons of climate-warming methane emissions, 16 million tons of health-harming volatile organic compounds, and 590 thousand tons of hazardous air pollutants by 2038. The Rule is estimated to prevent nearly 100 thousand cases of asthma symptoms each year.

Alex Bomstein, Executive Director of Clean Air Council, issued the following statement:

“The delay of the 2024 Methane Rule is EPA’s latest move to favor polluters while sacrificing the health of Americans who live closest to oil and gas infrastructure. Strong methane standards have widespread and bipartisan support as a commonsense policy to reduce both pollution and waste.”