Oral argument in a lawsuit challenging unlawful delays of methane pollution limits

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral argument tomorrow in a challenge to the Trump EPA's delay of protections against methane and other dangerous pollution from the oil and gas sector. The clean air standards that the administration seeks to unlawfully delay protect millions of people from oil and gas pollution and prevent the needless waste of methane that could be used for home heating and other necessities.

The case is Environmental Defense Fund v. Zeldin. EDF Senior Attorney Grace Smith will argue the case on behalf of the environmental and public health organizations that are challenging the delay.

Our organizations' briefs argue that EPA's delay is unlawful for two independent reasons:

• EPA completely fails to consider the pollution impacts and resulting harms the delay would cause in communities across the country.
• EPA's asserted basis for the delay - supposed industry compliance difficulties - has no factual support to back it up and is contradicted by evidence in the record that EPA ignores.

Here's more information:

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a climate pollutant that is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It is responsible for almost 30% of the global warming that we have experienced so far, and it is helping drive climate change and its worsening floods, wildfires, heatwaves and other severe weather events that are harming people across the country. 

In 2024, EPA finalized methane standards to keep dangerous pollution out of our air and to reduce wasted energy from oil and gas leaks, venting and flaring.

In December of 2025, the Trump EPA delayed implementation of those standards - in spite of community opposition and deep concerns about risks to human health. (That delay followed an "interim final" rule announced earlier in 2025 that contained identical extensions for many of the same deadlines.) 

The 2024 standards reduce methane pollution through commonsense steps like requiring leak detection and repairs. Those steps also reduce the emissions of other dangerous pollutants, including smog and soot-forming volatile organic compounds and toxic air pollutants that cause cancer. And, because methane is the primary ingredient of natural gas, failure to address venting, flaring, and leaks has led to the waste of nearly $7 billion in lost energy since early 2025 when the Trump administration announced it would no longer enforce all methane regulations.

Both large and independent producers have gone on record in support of federal methane standards, and major oil and gas producing states including Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania and New Mexico have already been implementing the standards. Colorado fully adopted EPA's methane standards last month.

The Trump EPA delayed requirements for companies to comply with the methane standards for as long as 18 months - even though many standards had already been in effect, reducing pollution and protecting people, for more than a year before they were suspended.

EPA's own fact sheet notes the delay will lead to more pollution: "The EPA estimates that the following emissions reductions will not occur from 2028-2038 as a result of the interim final rule: 3.8 million tons of methane, 960,000 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and 36,000 tons of toxic air pollutant."

NOTE: Last week, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin outlined a forthcoming proposal that would gut key protections in the 2024 methane standards. That proposal is separate from the legal challenge to EPA's earlier delays of methane protections.

Environmental Defense Fund is joined in tomorrow's lawsuit by Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Air Council, Clean Air Task Force, Dakota Resource Council, Earthjustice, Earthworks, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Food & Water Watch, Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights (Fort Berthold POWER), GreenLatinos, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Sierra Club.

You can read more in our opening brief, EPA's response, and our reply brief.