LETTER: Don’t rescind regulation on waste of oil and gas

In response to the Wednesday commentary, “A chance to kill an unreasonable rule”:

While Congress confirmed Ryan Zinke as secretary of the interior, members are already setting out to undermine him and his agency through a Congressional Review Act vote. The Bureau of Land Management is legally mandated to manage the federal government’s onshore oil and gas programs and use all reasonable precautions to prevent waste of oil or gas. Members of Congress asked the BLM to consider updating its regulation to curb natural gas waste to ensure responsible energy development with a fair return for the taxpayer.

The BLM conducted public and tribal meetings since 2014, received more than 300,000 comments from the public and published its final rule in 2016. But the Senate will now vote whether to overturn the rule by using the Congressional Review Act. If this occurs, it would also prevent the BLM from creating any similar regulations in the future.

The Senate should not hold a vote. Instead, lawmakers should provide Secretary Zinke an opportunity to do his job by sending the rule back with comments to the BLM and allow the agency to do what it was designed to do for the benefit of all Americans.