Members Of Congress Push Back On EPA’s Threat To The Permian Basin

Fourteen members of the Texas and New Mexico congressional delegations pushed back Thursday on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) intention to declare the Permian Basin to be in a state of non-attainment related to ozone regulations. In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the 12 House members and both Texas senators – John Cornyn and Ted Cruz – express their concern that “EPA is attempting to indirectly regulate the production of oil and gas on private lands using backdoor rulemaking.”

In addition to the two senators, signatories to the letter include Texas House members August Pfluger, Jody Arrington, Kevin Brady, Roger Williams, Tony Gonzales, Ronny Jackson, Louis Gohmert, Jake Ellzey, Randy Weber, Chip Roy and Brian Babin. Also signing onto the letter is New Mexico Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, whose 2nd congressional district encompasses the Southeastern New Mexico extent of the Permian Basin. All of the signatories to the letter are Republicans.

As I reported here on July 1, the EPA announcement came in the wake of the June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the West Virginia v. EPA case, a decision that severely limits the agency’s ability to enforce the so-called Clean Power Plan, an effort to regulate coal-fired power plants into extinction. I noted then that, given the science that blames power plant emissions for much ozone creation, EPA’s move appeared to be a backdoor means of continuing to target coal-fired plants, as well as to try to hamper the growth of the oil and gas industry in the most prolific region of the country.

In an email, Congressman Pfluger, whose 11th congressional district includes the Midland/Odessa area in the central part of the Permian, expressed similar concerns, adding that he believes the agency is acting in response to a threatened lawsuit by an environmentalist group. “President Biden’s policies are transforming the EPA into a club to bludgeon the fossil fuel industry,” Pfluger said. “He made a promise to ‘end fossil fuels’ on the campaign trail, and it seems he is dead serious about following through with it despite the tragic impacts of crippling American energy.

“It is no coincidence that this discretionary and unfounded proposal comes after an environmental group, WildEarth Guardians, petitioned EPA for the re-designation in March 2021. Roughly six months later, the organization warned the agency it intended to sue to force action.”

Cong. Pfluger also noted that the EPA’s announcement comes at seemingly odd timing, given that emissions in the Permian have dropped dramatically in recent years. “Permian Basin producers are already leading the world in reducing harmful emissions, he said. “Methane emissions in the Permian dropped nearly 70 percent between 2011 and 2020, even as oil and natural gas production in the region rose by over 320 percent. Air quality also continues to improve nationwide with ozone concentrations decreasing by 25 percent since 1990, and emissions of ozone precursors, like volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, dropping by 47 percent and 65 percent respectively.”

Obviously, EPA is already aware of all of this, yet still threatens to take this onerous action that would severely hamper growth of U.S. oil production at a time when the global oil markets remain under-supplied, Russian oil is disappearing from the market under the weight of sanctions, and most OPEC countries have run out of excess production capacity. It’s a point that is not lost on Cong. Pfluger as President Biden heads to Saudi Arabia today: “President Biden hails himself as a wartime President and remarks that the global community is enduring a time of war. If he truly believes this, why is his administration further exacerbating the energy crisis with attempts to cripple American energy production?”

It’s a good question, but one we probably should not hold our collective breath waiting for Administrator Regan to adequately answer.